Average Graduation Rates of Black Students at Public HBCUs

HBCUs are located in 20 states and 2 territories, mostly in the Southern United States. This note reports the weighted averages of the 6-year graduation rates of black students enrolled in 4-year HBCU programs by states and territories, where the weights are the black enrollments in the HBCUs in each state or territory. It finds that the average graduation rates for public HBCUs in some states and territories are substantially higher than the average graduation rates in other states and territories. These substantial differences suggest the possibility that changes in the public policies of the lagging states and territories might raise the graduation rates of the black students enrolled in the public HBCUs in those states and territories. (Note: Source of  black enrollments and graduation rates for the HBCUs = IPEDS Data Center)

Crossing the Finish Line at HBCUs

A. Overall Review 

I write this note to call my readers' attention to one of the most important books about higher education that I have encountered in the last twenty years. I am referring to a recent publication called Crossing the Finish Line by William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingos, and Michael S. McPherson (Princeton University Press, 2009).

The Best HBCU

Last update: Friday 2/26/16

There is no such thing as "the best HBCU, the second best HBCU, the third best HBCU, etc"; nor is there such a thing as "the best predominantly White institution (PWI) of higher learning, second best, third best, etc. " Annual "rankings" of colleges and universities are nothing more than mildly entertaining bits of gossip whose primary function is to promote the sales of the magazines in which they appear. They should never be taken seriously.

Why Are HBCUs Still Needed? -- Part I

A. Context

We are now 55 years from the Supreme Court’s 1954 desegregation decision and 45 years from the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965. As a result of these judicial/legislative landmarks that outlawed de jure segregation and undermined the persistence of de facto segregation, the vast majority of African American students no longer attend HBCUs. So it is fair to ask: why does America still need colleges and universities that continue to have enrollments that are mostly Black, even if this racial imbalance is maintained voluntarily?