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Diahuebs 15 Juli 2021

Acclaim, fundraising spread unevenly among Black colleges

(AP) — Two recent high- typical Black college graduate
profile faculty appoint- who borrowed money owes
ments could be a fund- $52,000 in student loan debt,
raising and enrollment roughly double what the typ-
bonanza for Howard ical white student owes.
University, one of the na-
tion’s most prestigious In addition to giving more fi-
Black colleges. Many oth- nancial aid to students, many
er Black schools are not so Black colleges are consider-
fortunate; in fact, many ing using their federal pan-
are struggling. demic money to create cam-
pus work-study jobs through
Some, especially smaller which students can earn
private colleges, have been income, provide subsidized
fighting for their survival child care, buy personal com-
for years, with weak endow- puters and help students pay
ments, aging buildings and for high-speed internet con-
steady enrollment declines, nections.
all made worse by the coro-
navirus pandemic. At Shaw, officials hope re-
newed national interest
“While larger HBCUs often in historically Black col-
have the funding resources Overall enrollment in histor- Black colleges and universi- federal aid can be used to leges and the role they play
necessary to attract accom- ically Black colleges has de- ties. Netflix founder Reed make up for lost tuition in- could spark enthusiasm for
plished talent like Nikole clined 11% in the most recent Hastings and his wife, Patty come during the pandemic, schools with much smaller
Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi 10-year period for which data Quillin, split $120 million hire more faculty, offer pay endowments that have had
Coates, many smaller insti- is available, from 325,609 in among the United Negro raises and upgrade heating to choose between updating
tutions need donors to step 2010 to 289,507 in 2019. En- College Fund, Spelman and and air-conditioning systems. buildings, closing programs
forward, contributing much- rollment at some campuses Morehouse. Former New or keeping tuition affordable
needed financial resources dropped by half during that York mayor and entrepreneur Wilberforce University in for their students.
for us to compete,” said Dr. span, and several admin- Michael Bloomberg pledged Ohio, another small histori-
Paulette Dillard, president istrators said enrollments $100 million for student aid cally Black private college, More than 80% of Shaw’s
of Shaw University, a private dropped further during the at the four historically Black plans to use its pandemic re- undergraduates are eligible
Black university in Raleigh, coronavirus pandemic last medical schools. lief money in similar ways, for federal Pell Grants, com-
North Carolina. year. after the government forgave pared to roughly 45% of
“It’s allowing the schools much of the university’s $25 Howard students. But Byrd,
Hannah-Jones accepted a fac- As a rule, Black colleges also to see the opportunity to be million in federal debt. the school’s financial officer,
ulty position at Howard amid haven’t had the fundraising bigger than they previously said that’s also where the uni-
controversy over whether she ability of other universities. thought was possible,” said
would be granted tenure at The cumulative endowment Harry Williams, president
the University of North Car- for all historical Black col- and chief executive of the
olina after critics questioned leges through 2019 was a Thurgood Marshall fund.
her credentials, specifically little more than $3.9 billion.
her Pulitzer Prize-winning That’s about equal to the en- Yet many lesser-known
work “The 1619 Project,” dowment for the University schools continue to struggle
which traces the country’s of Minnesota alone. and scrape for money. Shaw,
history with slavery. Coates, one of the oldest historically
a Howard graduate, is a jour- Of that amount, just eight Black colleges in the South,
nalist and best-selling author private Black colleges held has an endowment worth
who also recently joined 54% of the total: Spelman just $8,436 per student and
Howard’s faculty. College, Hampton Universi- did not benefit significantly
ty, Meharry Medical College, from the wave of private giv-
Billions of dollars in federal Xavier University of Loui- ing last year, said David Byrd,
virus relief will help higher siana, Morehouse College, the college’s vice president of versity has had an impact for
education, but it may not be Tuskegee University, the finance. “The bottom line: It’s very the past century and a half:
enough to change the long- Morehouse School of Medi- beneficial to the faculty, staff giving low-income students
term fortunes of some his- cine and Howard, which The college is able to “pay and students at this univer- the tools to find a career and
torically Black schools. An counts Vice President Kama- the bills” and get by, he said, sity, because now we have succeed.
Associated Press analysis of la Harris among its graduates. but still has $26 million in some additional opportuni-
enrollment and endowment deferred maintenance. Shaw ties for support,” said Wil- He said it’s “really tough to
data shows wide disparities and other smaller Black col- liam Woodson, Wilberforce’s predict” how long it will take
among 102 historically Black Last summer’s protests over leges that mostly depend on financial vice president. for the university to recover
colleges and universities, and racial injustice brought re- tuition are counting on help from the pandemic. Its fi-
a further divide between pri- newed attention to histori- from the federal coronavirus Student debt is a significant nances are primarily driven
vate and public institutions. cally Black colleges and uni- relief championed by Presi- drag on graduates of his- by tuition and donations,
versities and led to a surge in dent Joe Biden and passed by torically Black colleges, and yet enrollment has dropped
As one example, the five private donations, at least for Congress this spring. That administrators say it hurts by nearly 53% from 2010 to
wealthiest private Black col- some. aid package will send roughly enrollment. Limited endow- 2019. He cited the need for
leges had endowments rang- $2.6 billion to historically ments mean their campuses continued federal relief or
ing from $73,000 per student Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife Black colleges, although the can’t subsidize tuition as private donations that trickle
to more than $200,000, far of former Amazon founder U.S. Department of Educa- much as wealthier colleges. down to the smaller schools.
above the median endow- Jeff Bezos, gave $560 million tion has not yet announced
ment of less than $16,000 per to 22 Black colleges, includ- how it will allocate the mon- A large percentage of stu- “People think we want a
student. The largest endow- ing some with very limited ey. dents enrolled at historically handout for nothing. We have
ment for a public Black col- endowments, as well as to Black colleges come from the a proven track record for pro-
lege was less than $25,000 per the Thurgood Marshall Col- Shaw plans to use the mon- poorest families, those mak- ducing a certain type of kid
student, though the public lege Fund and the United ey to fix older buildings and ing $20,000 a year or less, for 150 years,” Byrd said. “So,
schools also receive state aid. Negro College Fund, both dormitories and expand a va- which forces them to bor- it’s not really a handout; it’s
of which raise money for riety of student services. The row. Federal figures show the an investment.”