In the race to attract students, historically Black colleges sprint out front

By the last Friday in October, North Carolina Central University sophomore Autumn King had attended a talent show, the school’s coronation ball, and a gospel concert – all in a matter of days. That evening, she was preparing to attend a fraternity and sorority step show in the basketball gymnasium.

October and early November are the most glorious time of the year at historically Black colleges and universities: homecoming season.

“I really enjoy going to things in general, because I have a lot of family history at this school,” says the apparel design major, originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, while at lunch with her friends on campus. “It’s just nice being around people and I wanted to be involved more than I was last year.”

Ms. King was one of tens of thousands of Black students at HBCUs reveling in the annual tradition. Her school, like many others, saw a record number of first-time enrollees for the class of 2028.

Statistics like that have HBCU admissions staffs reveling, too. The past few years have brought challenges to enrollment at colleges and universities in the United States. They have dealt with hurdles such as the rocky rollout of the revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action in higher education also threw them a curveball in how admissions are conducted. And a declining birth rate starting with the Great Recession means there are simply fewer college-age Americans, something that has been characterized as a demographic cliff.

Freshman enrollment in college has declined for the first time since 2020, with a 5% drop in first-year students, according to the nonprofit National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. After the end of affirmative action, some U.S. campuses are showing a decline in Black and Latino students, as well. But the number of applicants and freshman class members at HBCUs offers a different picture.

“I would attribute several things to the increased enrollment, record admission totals, and increased attention at HBCUs,” says Nadrea Njoku, assistant vice president of the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute at the United Negro College Fund. Potential students and their parents witnessed the racial reckoning that happened in the U.S. during the pandemic, she says, when George Floyd was murdered by a police officer and Breonna Taylor was killed in a police raid.

On the heels of those tragedies, some schools experienced record donations and philanthropy, which propelled research and construction. Record federal investment in HBCUs, including pandemic aid, has totaled more than $17 billion since 2021.

“Many students and their parents turned their attention to the safe spaces that HBCUs have always declared themselves to be and have proven themselves to be,” Dr. Njoku says. She adds that HBCUs are safe for interpersonal dynamics and social development, and that if marginalizing experiences happen, they don’t happen through racial objectification and exploitation.

Finding a home in North Carolina

North Carolina has the largest number of HBCU students in a single state. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, total enrollment for all 10 of North Carolina’s HBCUs was just under 40,000 students in the academic year 2022-2023. Since then, some of those schools have experienced gains. In fact, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (A&T) State University, the largest HBCU in the United States, has experienced gains for the past 11 years.

Shaw University, located in Raleigh, reported a 36% increase in new students, which was its largest freshman class since the pandemic. North Carolina Central University welcomed 1,753 new students, the largest freshman class in its 114-year history. Elizabeth City State University also reported a 23% increase in first-time freshmen, while North Carolina A&T saw more than 47,000 applicants. Fayetteville State also saw enrollment increases, which included transfer and military students.

This coincides with other well-known HBCUs like Howard, Clark Atlanta, and Morehouse College, which also experienced record applications or first-year enrollments – or both – for the class of 2028.

“The bottom line is that these enrollment numbers have been trending upward since the unfortunate incidents with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which put a big spotlight on the inequities that exist in underserved communities where African Americans are having to live,” says Harry Williams, president of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

After that, Americans were looking for organizations and institutions that “were designed to lift people up and elevate. And HBCUs have been doing that for 150 years,” Dr. Williams adds. He says the changes to affirmative action are one of many factors in the current enrollment trend. “What we’re seeing, I don’t want to attribute directly to the Supreme Court, because I think it’s something that has been evolving.”

The 2023 high court decision potentially caused students to think about where the best places for them to thrive could be, suggests Dr. Njoku. She points to the upward social and economic mobility of HBCUs, which surpasses the Ivy League for Black students. She also notes that social media has made HBCU culture more accessible to curious students, who then don’t have to visit every campus.

What are HBCUs doing to attract students?

North Carolina A&T accomplished its enrollment and application gains by planning ahead, says Joseph Montgomery, the school’s associate vice provost for enrollment management. In 2011, the university released its “Preeminence 2020” plan, which tackled growing enrollment and strengthening the academic portfolio. That led to two more iterations of the plan, with the latest forecasting until 2030. Four construction projects on campus, including a dormitory with 405 beds, will be complete in two years.

“Schools have to recognize that you’re in the moment,” Mr. Montgomery says. “So we can sit back and become what I like to call benefactors of the moment,” he continues.

Specifically, HBCUs have to band together, Mr. Montgomery says. “How can we have the moment live beyond whatever its shelf life is?”

For him, he keeps in touch with enrollment officers at other HBCUs, and they share information and ideas. For instance, he says that they are all common application schools, so North Carolina A&T and other HBCUs have consortium travel – meaning they visit urban areas to recruit together. Mr. Montgomery says some HBCUs are also traveling with highly selective predominantly white institutions.

“There’s combinations of Howard University, Harvard, and Princeton, and Yale traveling together. And so we’re like, if Howard can get those schools, then could there be a combination of A&T and MIT and Cal Tech?” Mr. Montgomery asks.

He says that schools should be careful about the influx of students and make sure that in the long run, they can accommodate them. Schools have negotiated contracts to feed a certain number of students, and have capacity to house a certain number. Going over on either of those calls for renegotiating contracts or having to outsource things like housing, which, depending on the location of the arrangement, might call for shuttle services. All of that adds to the total costs, Mr. Montgomery says.

“That throws the budget off,” he adds. “Everybody thinks that if you get more students you make more money, but it’s not always the case, because your expenditures can start exceeding the money that you’re bringing in.”

“A natural community builder”

On the day of Howard University’s homecoming game against Tennessee State University last month, musings were that Vice President Kamala Harris, a Howard graduate, would make an appearance. Ms. Harris didn’t show up, but she did write a letter to the student newspaper, The Hilltop, wishing her fellow Bison a happy homecoming. They wore school paraphernalia and sweaters and shirts with her name on them as her picture loomed high on light poles. Students and alumni packed the streets and the campus during the 100th anniversary of the school’s homecoming, doing line dances, eating food, watching the game on a jumbo screen – while small children played in bouncy houses.

“I think homecoming is a natural community builder, but it’s also a community extender,” Dr. Njoku says. She likens it to being a lifetime commitment between HBCUs and their graduates, who share professional networks and affinities for their schools. “You feel like there’s an unspoken connection.”