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ROI On HBCUs: The Role Of Historically Black Colleges In The 21st Century

POST WRITTEN BY
Marcus Noel
This article is more than 7 years old.

In Mrs. McKeever’s third grade class, I remember reciting one of Malcolm X’s famous quotes: “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us!” I’m not sure anybody in my classroom had an idea what he was talking about, not even Mrs. McKeever.

As a culturally-exposed black student, I had a questions: How could I become fully educated if the history books and curriculum presents only one perspective of the world? My answer was to choose to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA.

Eight years after graduation, this February I had the opportunity to speak at a White House panel celebrating Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). But it was not without its soul-searching: What is so special about the HBCU experience? Why turn down Ivies and other top ranked institutions for HBCUs? Why don’t HBCU alum give back like other alumni? What purpose do HBCUs serve today?

An overview

HBCUs were created in the mid-1800s during segregation—a time when racism was explicit and educating students of color was neither a priority nor encouraged. Since that time, HBCUs have played a pivotal role in transforming the landscape of higher education in the U.S. Today, there are 100 HBCU’s in 19 states plus D.C. and the Caribbean and enrollment stands at over 300,000.

Things could be going better. HBCU attendance by black students has fallen from 18% in 1976 to 8% in 2013. Schools are under-funded (more than half of HBCUs are public institutions) with low endowments and tepid support from private donors, including alumni. Students are experiencing increased student/family debt and depressed graduation rates, mainly due to financial pressures. But their core challenges are tightly related to access to capital and quality of resources, not a lack of talent, ability or intellectual prowess of its students or faculty.

Just 22% of black young adults had a bachelor’s or higher degree in 2014 compared with 61% of Asians and 41% of whites (15% for Hispanics and 31% for two or more races). The rebound of HBCUs may be the single most important fix to the educational attainment gap and its wide ripple effect in the economy and lives of black and all Americans. Here’s how.

Value Proposition

The value is in the experience. HBCUs are diverse and differentiated by their unique culture. They are experts in educating and creating opportunity for black people. They also serve as a place of learning for students of all races open to understanding the “black experience;” in 2013 non-black students made up 20% of HBCU enrollment. More than just academic environments, HBCUs are communities. Cultural identity, a lift-as-I-climb spirit, a culture of altruism and a commitment to achieve excellence are all at the heart of an HBCU education.

They are rare institutions where individuals of the Black diaspora can unapologetically take risks, learn and thrive without having to engage in “Double Consciousness” (see “The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B. Dubois) or the pressures of a being a minority in a predominantly white institution (PWI). Let’s revisit Malcolm X:

It is imperative that black people first learn amongst their own communities, then after gaining a thorough knowledge of ourselves, our own kind, and racial dignity has been instilled in us. We can then pursue any school or endeavor and still retain our race pride, racial dignity and be able to avoid the subservient inferiority complexes that most blacks experience in integrated environments.

For more than a century, HBCUs have graduated countless leaders their respective fields. A short list includes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Morehouse College), Oprah Winfrey (attended Tennessee State University), Marian Wright Edelman (Spelman College), Thurgood Marshall (Lincoln University/Howard Law), Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State), Samuel L. Jackson (Morehouse College), Common (Florida A&M University), Toni Morrison (Howard University), and The Tuskegee Airmen (Tuskegee University).

According to an U.S. Commission On Civil Rights report, HBCUs are credited with creating  the American black middle class. The report states that HBCU’s have produced 40% of African-American members of Congress, 40% of engineers, 50% professors at PWIs, 50% lawyers, and 80% of judges. The impact of millennial HBCU alum are found across all industries: Wall Street, Capitol Hill, Hollywood, on campuses like Harvard Business School, Johns Hopkins, Stanford GSB, at companies such as McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Google, Apple -- and even on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 lists.

This year Prince Adubu, a Morehouse College senior, was selected to represent Zimbabwe in the International Rhodes Scholar Class of 2016. Abudu is the fourth Morehouse student to be selected for the prestigious scholarship at the University of Oxford in England, where he will pursue a MS in computer science and MBA.

Competitive Landscape

Let’s discuss the issues that aren’t accounted for when those annual “college rankings” drop. There are several that negatively impact HBCUs, such as generational pedigree, brand recognition, access to resources and exposure and endowment giving. Top-ranked institutions like Harvard University and Williams College were founded in 1636 and 1793, respectively, while most HBCUs were chartered between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The key thing to know about minting a gold-star academic reputation is that it’s cemented over time and fiercely protected from newcomers and diversity.

Endowments are also critical. These gifts help support professorships, scholarships, graduate fellowships and programmatic activities in the institution. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the top 10 HBCU endowments range from $38 million to $586 million, while the top 10 PWI endowments range from $6 billion to $32 billion. A stark comparison. The endowment gap between institutions has doubled in the last 20 years. Another challenge is the rise of college costs over recent years, forcing households to take on significant debt to send students to college.

Currently,75% of students at HBCUs rely on Pell Grants and nearly 13% rely on PLUS Loans to meet their college expenses. Unfortunately, the black alumni base does not have the wealth capacity to “save” HBCUs. The average black family holds about $7,113 in net worth, more than $100,000 less than the typical white family and a mere 6 cents for every dollar of wealth held by the average white family. Hence, as long as the dramatic racial wealth gap persists, enhanced black alumni-giving will not solve the HBCU financial crisis.

The Solution

A purposeful and intentional investment in innovation can change the trajectory of HBCUs and its students. From inception, HBCUs were created out of great social need, and while great social need still persists, today’s challenges are different. Today, HBCUs have a great opportunity to redesign the institutions for 21st century sustainability yielding long-term positive outcomes. HBCUs have a huge opportunity to be “catalysts for innovation.” HBCUs should invest five key areas: project based learning (PBL), entrepreneurship, social innovation, STE(A)M, and economic empowerment.

A paradigm shift can assist HBCUs to remedy the rampant technology diversity gap where companies have little as 1% employees of color. Every HBCU needs a center for innovation where students can conduct self-led research, develop products, invent, and test their ideas. This will attract both industry and innovative ecosystem to these institutions. As a result, it will create a talented workforce with the mindset of creation rather than consumption.

“Go-to Market” Strategy

  1. Adopt Project Based Learning (PBL) . Research shows that PBL is the best pedagogical approach to to engage students of color. PBL connects students and institutions with communities and the real world. It gives students the opportunity to leverage technology to solve real problems and addressing real issues.
  2. Invest in Entrepreneurship Curriculum. Nearly 75% of students graduating high school say that they are interested in starting a company or working for a startup. HBCUs can leverage this as a training ground for the next generation of innovators of color. Developing curriculum for both entrepreneurs and potential venture investors. This will help diversify the entrepreneurial ecosystem and allow students to show their skillsets through applied learning.
  3. Build a pipeline to Social Innovation. At the heart of HBCUs is community. There is great opportunity for students to use classroom learning to solve real world problems to potentially impact the world at scale. Partnerships with organization such as Camelback Ventures, Echoing Green, Global Good Fund, Ashoka, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Clinton Global Initiative to build a pipeline of talent for the social innovation space.
  4. Integrate STE(A)M. Deeper in investments in science, technology, engineering, math with integrated  art. STEAM fields are critical when it comes to driving innovation. There are roughly 2.4 million unfilled STEAM jobs in the most influential companies, this number is only growing. Nationally, only 10% of college students are landing STEAM jobs upon graduation.
  5. Teach Economic Empowerment.  Knowledge alone isn’t enough to escape the racial wealth gap. Investments  in creating  and growing financial sustainability is critical.  This will help mitigate the financial pressures and position students and alumni to contribute to endowments, and create generational wealth. A deep investment here is mutually benefiting to the community at large.

Diversity as the new metric of success

Let’s leverage HBCUs for what they are good at and invest to make them great for the 21st century. HBCUs are the by-product of social innovation. As we become more sophisticated in understanding diversity, and the role it plays in educational experiences, we should support the adoption of a new metric system supporting the HBCU experience. This will help express the intrinsic value and power of these institutions.

Value of an HBCU experience: Priceless

For me, HBCUs are priceless. Experiences when Rev. Norris taught (I mean preached) us the “Backdoor Method” of solving complex math equations, Dr. Hollingworth’s (a white professor) ensuring that the business and econ majors all had high-quality jobs and opportunities upon graduation. It was also priceless when Henry Goodgame (the Godfather), personally replaced my lost cap and gown on graduation day. Simply put, it was the “village,” and that village is priceless.

When we look at our ancestral history, our progress and our resilient desire to academically achieve excellence despite the odds, it is fuel for our fire to improve future generations and to establish legacy. HBCUs will continue to be beacons of light not only for the black community but for all of us.

Let’s continue the conversation #HBCUsMatter

Marcus A. Noel, founder of Heart of Man, 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30, Morehouse College @hom_noel

Research Contributor: Iro Summers,  VergeGraphics, 2016 TechWomen Selection Committee, Howard University @IroBold