FAQs About HBCUs

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About HBCUs

1.  What is an HBCU? 2.  Why are HBCUs still needed? 3.  Who maintains the official list of HBCUs? 4.  How many HBCUs are there? 5.  Where are the HBCUs located? 6.  How many black students are enrolled in HBCUs? 7.  What's the male/female breakdown of HBCU enrollments?  8.  HBCUs are "historically" Black, but how Black are they today? 9.  How many degrees are conferred by HBCUs each year? 10. What are the best sources of information about HBCUs? 11. What is the best HBCU? 12. Which HBCUs offer online and/or blended degrees? 1. What is an HBCU? The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: " ... any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation."

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2. Why are HBCUs still needed? The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) has provided a widely referenced historical rationale on its Website  The Editor of the Gateway has posted a series of notes that pose alternative rationales -- Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

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3. Who maintains the official list of HBCUs? The White House Initiative on HBCUs maintains the official list of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Click here for a video of President Obama's announcement of his Executive Order reaffirming the WHI-HBCUs  Unfortunately, there are many so-called "lists of HBCUs" on the Web that include colleges and universities that are not HBCUs. These additional institutions may have predominantly Black enrollments and may be providing excellent educational services to their students, but they are not on the official list maintained by the White House Initiative. Therefore they are not HBCUs. For example, there are no HBCUs in California or New York or Illinois. Other so-called "lists of HBCUs" are incomplete because they don't include all HBCUs. They leave out some of the lesser known four year colleges and/or some of the community colleges. Then there are the so-called "lists of HBCUs" that are obsolete because they don't use the correct names for the HBCUs that expanded the scope of their services and therefore changed their names from "college" to "university". Finally, there are the so-called "lists of HBCUs" that are obsolete because they still include institutions that have closed.  Note: HBCUs that have lost their accreditation will be dropped from the official White House Initiative list ... eventually. In summary, the White House Initiative and only the White House Initiative determines which colleges and universities are HBCUs. Therefore the list of HBCUs on any other Website will be valid if and only if it contains all of the colleges and universities on the official list (in MS Word file) posted on the Website maintained by the White House Initiative and only the colleges and universities on that official list.

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4. How many HBCUs are there? There are officially only 106 HBCUs at this time        Note  -- HBCU #106 (American Baptist College ) was added in March 2013

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5. Where are the HBCUs located? The following table shows the distribution of the HBCUs across the Mid-Atlantic, Central, and Southern states. (Note: The addresses and Google maps for each HBCU can be found on the Gateway's Profiles page.) States HBCUs Alabama (AL) 15 Arkansas (AR) 4 District of Columbia (DC) 2 Delaware (DE) 1 Florida (FL) 4 Georgia (GA)  10 Kentucky (KY) 1 Louisiana (LA) 6 Maryland (MD) 4 Michigan (MI) 1 Missouri (MO) 2 Mississippi (MS) 7 North Carolina (NC) 11 Ohio (OH) 2 Oklahoma (OK) 1 Pennsylvania (PA) 2 South Carolina (SC) 8 Tennessee (TN) 7 Texas (TX) 9 Virginia (VA) 6 Virgin Islands (VI) 1 West Virginia (WV) 2 Total 106

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6. How many black students are enrolled in HBCUs?
Table 1 (below) displays the enrollments at the 99 accredited HBCUs in the Fall 2010 semester.  

Note #1. Fall 2010 was the most recent data that was available on October 5, 2012 when this note was posted
Note #2: The U.S. Department of Education does not include non-accredited institutions in its databases, so five HBCUs do not appear in Table 1.
Note #3: The five non-accredited HBCUs are small institutions, whose combined enrollment is  less than 10,000

• Total enrollment at HBCUs = 338,498
• Black enrollment at HBCUs = 264,136, i.e., 78% of their total enrollment
• Adding at most 10,000 black students from the five small unaccredited HBCUs = 274,136
• Total black enrollment at all U.S. accredited institutions = 2,902,749
  Source - NCES Report, Table 1 at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012280.pdf
• Therefore, the percentage of the nation's black students who are enrolled at HBCUs is approximately 9% ... (274,136 / 2,902,749 * 100)

Table 1 also shows that most HBCUs are small institutions. Specifically, 86 of the 99 enroll less than 5,000 black students; indeed, 67 enroll less than 3,000 black students; on the other hand, no HBCUs enroll more than 13,000 black students. 

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7. What's the male/female breakdown of HBCU enrollments?
The last column in Table 1 (below) shows the percentage of black students in each HBCU that are female. 

•  In 76 of the 99 HBCUs, more than 55 percent of the black students are female.

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8. HBCUs are "historically" Black, but how Black are they today?
Although their enrollments are becoming more diverse, as can be seen in Table 1 (below) the vast majority of HBCUs continue to be predominantly Black institutions:

• Black students are more than 90 percent of the enrollments at 47 HBCUs
• Black students are more than 75 percent of the enrollments at 80 HBCUs
• Black students are in the minority at only 7 HBCUs

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  Table 1. Fall 2010 Enrollment Statistics for the Nation's Accredited HBCUs

HBCU	Total Enrollment Fall 2010	Black Enrollment Fall 2010	Black Percent	Black Males	Black Females	% of Black Who Are Female
Clinton Junior College	143	143	100%	72	71	50%
Lane College	2222	2212	100%	1045	1167	53%
Morris College	1048	1042	99%	454	588	56%
Le Moyne-Owen College	987	979	99%	333	646	66%
Benedict College	3137	3104	99%	1518	1586	51%
Virginia University of Lynchburg	555	546	98%	214	332	61%
Livingstone College	1156	1132	98%	632	500	44%
Tougaloo College	918	897	98%	325	572	64%
Saint Pauls College	566	549	97%	275	274	50%
Jarvis Christian College	522	506	97%	261	245	48%
Selma University	472	457	97%	186	271	59%
Miles College	1668	1612	97%	765	847	53%
Denmark Technical College	1033	995	96%	440	555	56%
Interdenominational Theological Center	411	395	96%	223	172	44%
Saint Augustines College	1508	1449	96%	733	716	49%
Paul Quinn College	226	217	96%	108	109	50%
Paine College	925	884	96%	311	573	65%
Southern University at New Orleans	3165	3020	95%	752	2268	75%
Virginia Union University	1667	1587	95%	755	832	52%
Central State University	2288	2178	95%	1101	1077	49%
Johnson C Smith University	1331	1259	95%	510	749	59%
Morehouse College	2586	2438	94%	2438	0	0%
Fort Valley State University	3728	3510	94%	1453	2057	59%
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff	3428	3225	94%	1399	1826	57%
Southern University and A & M College	6897	6480	94%	2344	4136	64%
Voorhees College	752	706	94%	279	427	60%
South Carolina State University	4362	4091	94%	1776	2315	57%
Concordia College Selma	652	611	94%	339	272	45%
Alabama State University	5705	5336	94%	2093	3243	61%
Arkansas Baptist College	1119	1046	93%	660	386	37%
Bennett College for Women	780	729	93%	0	729	100%
Wilberforce University	689	642	93%	275	367	57%
Alabama A & M University	5814	5377	92%	2449	2928	54%
Claflin University	1920	1775	92%	594	1181	67%
Mississippi Valley State University	2636	2435	92%	860	1575	65%
Edward Waters College	769	710	92%	379	331	47%
Bethune-Cookman University	3577	3301	92%	1282	2019	61%
Coahoma Community College	2741	2527	92%	881	1646	65%
Jackson State University	8687	8001	92%	2803	5198	65%
Rust College	960	883	92%	333	550	62%
Howard University	10379	9516	92%	3225	6291	66%
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University	13284	12172	92%	4728	7444	61%
Allen University	848	777	92%	314	463	60%
Dillard University	1187	1086	91%	309	777	72%
Alcorn State University	3682	3363	91%	1067	2296	68%
Wiley College	1351	1232	91%	472	760	62%
Philander Smith College	696	632	91%	215	417	66%
Savannah State University	4080	3664	90%	1596	2068	56%
Talladega College	706	634	90%	262	372	59%
Clark Atlanta University	3941	3538	90%	1004	2534	72%
Southwestern Christian College	224	199	89%	103	96	48%
Bowie State University	5578	4951	89%	1774	3177	64%
Virginia State University	5634	4999	89%	1903	3096	62%
Spelman College	2177	1915	88%	0	1915	100%
Hampton University	5254	4619	88%	1635	2984	65%
Coppin State University	3800	3334	88%	760	2574	77%
Oakwood University	1915	1673	87%	728	945	56%
Meharry Medical College	781	678	87%	266	412	61%
Norfolk State University	6964	6023	86%	2102	3921	65%
Prairie View A & M University	8781	7579	86%	2958	4621	61%
Morgan State University	7805	6669	85%	2830	3839	58%
Texas College	927	791	85%	410	381	48%
Albany State University	4653	3970	85%	1290	2680	68%
North Carolina A & T State University	10795	9187	85%	4067	5120	56%
Shaw University	2722	2304	85%	924	1380	60%
Stillman College	1056	893	85%	379	514	58%
Florida Memorial University	1891	1596	84%	585	1011	63%
Harris-Stowe State University	1716	1440	84%	445	995	69%
Texas Southern University	9557	8016	84%	3264	4752	59%
Southern University at Shreveport	2834	2358	83%	574	1784	76%
Tuskegee University	2946	2375	81%	976	1399	59%
Grambling State University	4994	4010	80%	1585	2425	60%
Morehouse School of Medicine	329	262	80%	76	186	71%
Elizabeth City State University	3307	2621	79%	1051	1570	60%
Lawson State Community College-Birmingham Campus	4863	3834	79%	1338	2496	65%
North Carolina Central University	8645	6787	79%	2211	4576	67%
Fisk University	580	454	78%	159	295	65%
Lincoln University of Pennsylvania	2361	1834	78%	727	1107	60%
Langston University	2794	2169	78%	924	1245	57%
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania	1586	1190	75%	543	647	54%
Xavier University of Louisiana	3391	2540	75%	660	1880	74%
Winston-Salem State University	6333	4701	74%	1435	3266	69%
University of the Virgin Islands	2733	2024	74%	531	1493	74%
J F Drake State Technical College	1557	1152	74%	420	732	64%
University of Maryland Eastern Shore	4540	3340	74%	1348	1992	60%
Delaware State University	3757	2722	72%	1008	1714	63%
Huston-Tillotson University	901	645	72%	302	343	53%
Fayetteville State University	5781	4044	70%	1271	2773	69%
Tennessee State University	8930	6150	69%	2215	3935	64%
Hinds Community College	12811	7870	61%	n/a	n/a	n/a
H Councill Trenholm State Technical College	1758	1077	61%	456	621	58%
Bishop State Community College	3725	2214	59%	645	1569	71%
Kentucky State University	2851	1651	58%	692	959	58%
University of the District of Columbia	5521	2705	49%	960	1745	65%
Lincoln University	3349	1242	37%	583	659	53%
Shelton State Community College	6075	2080	34%	761	1319	63%
Gadsden State Community College	7031	1474	21%	489	985	67%
West Virginia State University	3190	488	15%	232	256	52%
St Philip's College	10828	1471	14%	509	962	65%
Bluefield State College	2063	226	11%	89	137	61%
Totals	338498	264146

Source: Enrollment data was obtained from the U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS Data Center. The enrollment of each HBCU can also be found on the Gateway's Profiles page.

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9. How many degrees are conferred by HBCUs each year?
Table 2 (below) shows the number of associates, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees awarded by to black students in the 2009/2010 academic year. The second column shows the degrees awarded by all institutions, the third column shows the degrees awarded by HBCUs, and the fourth column shows the percentage of all degrees awarded by HBCUs.

• As can be seen from the last row in Table 2, HBCUs awarded 10 percent of the degrees awarded to black students by all accredited U.S. institutions in the 2009/2010 academic year
   
• Their small 2 percent share of associates degrees reflects the fact that only 14 of the 105 HBCUs are two year institutions 

  Table 2. Degrees Conferred on Black Students by All U.S. Institutions
                     and by HBCUs in the 2009/2010 Academic Year

Degrees	All  Institutions	HBCUs	Percent
Associates	113,905	2100	2%
Bachelors	164,844	26897	16%
Masters	76,458	5563	7%
Doctoral	10,417	1281	12%
Total	365,624	35841	10%

  Sources = Degrees for all institutions from NCES report
                   at http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72
                    
                   Degrees for all HBCUs from IPEDS data center
                   at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/
  
Note #4: The IPEDs data center for the HBCU group did not include
                  Hinds Community College; this data was retrieved by a
                  separate search

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10. What are the best sources of information about HBCUs?

• By far, the best sources of information about HBCUs are their Websites. You will find links to all of the HBCU Websites on the Gateway's HBCU Profiles page.
• At the present time, the Gateway to HBCUs is the most reliable source of information about the current academic activities of HBCUs
• Up-to-date, comprehensive information about HBCUs, with emphasis on student and alumi activities, is offered by HBCU service providers on their Web pages and twitter, e.g., HBCU Buzz & @HBCUBuzz , HBCU Career Center & @HBCUCareerCntr, HBCU Connect & @HBCU, HBCU Digest & @HBCUDigest, HBCU Lifestyle & @HBCU_Lifestyle
  
• The most comprehensive sources of information about the historical achievements of HBCUs, e.g., their most notable alumni, are the richly interlinked pages of Wikipedia.

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11. What is the Best HBCU?

• The DLL has long maintained that there is no such thing as "the best HBCU" ... Students have different resources, preparations, and aspirations. So the real question is, "What is the best HBCU for YOU?"
• The DLL has suggested guidelines for selecting HBCUs in its note, "The Best HBCU" 

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12. Which HBCUs offer online and/or blended degree programs?

• 24 HBCUs offer online and/or blended programs
• These programs are describe in the DLL's Directory of HBCU Online/Blended Programs ... last updated on 6/10/13

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Last updated:10 June 2013

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