A specific silence falls when an old institution dies. It is not the silence of shock or grief. It is the silence of people who have grown used to collapse. They no longer find it remarkable.
This is the story of America’s HBCUs. These are Historically Black Colleges and Universities. They were founded to educate Black students when every other door was bolted shut. There are 107 remaining. They are disappearing at a rate of about one per year. The nation offers little more than ceremonial praise.
Since 2000, more than a dozen HBCUs have closed for good. These include Knoxville College and Barber-Scotia College. A dozen more are on the edge of losing accreditation. They face enrollment drops and financial ruin (GAO, 2018).
The question is not whether HBCUs are in crisis. The question is why so few people with power seem to care.
The Endowment Gap — The Wound That Bleeds Everything Else
Let us begin with a number that should shame every institution of higher learning. It should shame every corporation that talks about diversity. It should shame every foundation that claims to care about racial equity.
All 107 HBCUs in the United States combined have a total endowment of about $3.9 billion (UNCF, Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute, 2017). Harvard University alone holds an endowment of more than $50 billion. Princeton holds $35 billion. Yale holds $41 billion.
The entire HBCU system educates nearly 300,000 students. It possesses less wealth than the interest earned in a single quarter by any one of these rich schools. This is not an accident of history. It is its product.
The endowment gap is the wound from which all other wounds flow.
- Without endowments, HBCUs cannot offer competitive financial aid. They lose top students to predominantly white institutions that recruit them aggressively.
- Without endowments, they cannot invest in facilities or labs. They cannot meet the physical standards accreditation agencies require.
- Without endowments, they cannot weather enrollment downturns or recessions. Wealthy institutions absorb these shocks without breaking stride.
The GAO reported in 2018 that HBCUs had a median endowment of about $15,000 per student. Non-HBCU institutions had about $34,000 per student (GAO, HBCUs — Accreditation, Financial Condition, and Graduation Rates, 2018). This comparison flatters HBCUs. It does not account for the massive wealth at the top non-HBCU schools.
All 107 HBCUs combined have less endowment wealth ($3.9B) than the interest earned in a single quarter by Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. The median HBCU endowment per student is less than half the non-HBCU median.
The Institutions That Built Black America
Before discussing the crisis, we must discuss the legacy. HBCUs have contributed so much to this nation. The scale defies casual comprehension.
These institutions were founded after emancipation. Formerly enslaved people built schools with their own hands. They built them in communities where it had been illegal to read. These schools produced (Thurgood Marshall College Fund, 2019).
- 80% of Black judges
- 50% of Black lawyers
- 50% of Black doctors
- 40% of Black engineers
- 40% of Black members of Congress
Spelman and Bennett produced generations of Black women leaders. The Seven Sisters would not admit them. Morehouse produced Martin Luther King Jr. and Spike Lee. Howard produced Thurgood Marshall and Toni Morrison. Tuskegee produced the fighter pilots who escorted bombers over Nazi Germany. They were denied basic civil rights at home.
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”
— Martin Luther King Jr., Morehouse College, Class of 1948
HBCUs represent only 3% of the nation’s colleges. Yet they produce 17% of all Black bachelor’s degrees. They produce 24% of Black STEM degrees (UNCF, 2017). A 2019 Gallup-UNCF study found Black HBCU graduates reported higher well-being and purpose. They felt more belonging than Black graduates of predominantly white institutions. They were more likely to feel professors cared about them. They were more likely to have a mentor. They were more likely to be engaged in their education.
These are not sentimental observations. They are measurable outcomes. They translate directly into career success and community contribution.
The Perfect Storm
The forces threatening HBCUs are multiple and interlocking. In some cases they are contradictory.
The demographic challenge. Total HBCU enrollment dropped from about 326,000 in 2010 to about 292,000 in 2020 (NCES, 2021). That is more than 10% in a single decade. Some individual schools fell much further. This is not because Black students are choosing not to attend college. It is because they are increasingly choosing predominantly white institutions. Those schools can offer better financial aid. They have more modern facilities. They have the perceived prestige advantage that comes with institutional wealth.
The irony is bitter and precise. The civil rights victories HBCUs helped achieve now threaten them. Desegregating higher education opened predominantly white institutions to Black students. It created the competitive environment that now threatens HBCUs with extinction. Before Brown v. Board of Education, HBCUs were the only option for most Black students. After integration, they became one option among many. They entered that competition carrying centuries of disadvantage in resources and wealth.
They were asked to run a marathon against competitors given a fifty-mile head start. Then they were criticized for falling behind.
HBCU Enrollment Decline — 2010 vs. 2020
NCES, Digest of Education Statistics, 2021
The accreditation crisis. Accreditation is the official stamp that says a school meets quality standards. Without it, students cannot get federal financial aid. Between 2010 and 2023, more than a dozen HBCUs were placed on warning or probation. Some lost accreditation entirely (GAO-18-64, 2018). Accrediting agencies judge schools against standards designed for well-resourced universities. The standards cover financial reserves and facility conditions. HBCUs, carrying the weight of chronic underfunding, often struggle to meet them. The GAO found HBCUs were far more likely to be sanctioned. This was true even when accounting for size and mission.
Accreditation loss is a death sentence. Without it, students cannot access federal financial aid. Without federal aid, the low-income student body most HBCUs serve simply cannot attend.
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1. UNCF Scholarship and HBCU Support Program (United States). UNCF provides more than 11,000 scholarships every year. It funds HBCU operations and research. Their scholarship recipients achieve a 70% six-year graduation rate. That is 1.5 times the 40% rate for all African American college students. UNCF has raised over $500 million since its founding. The data proves that investing in HBCU students works (UNCF Fact Sheet, 2023).
2. Thurgood Marshall College Fund (United States). TMCF serves 54 public HBCUs nationwide. It provides scholarships and institutional grants. TMCF scholars achieve an 85-90% graduation rate. The overall HBCU student graduation rate is 39%. The Fund has raised more than $300 million since 1987. It has served 300,000 students. Applications to public HBCUs surged 126% since 2004 (Rolling Out, November 2023).
3. MacKenzie Scott’s Direct HBCU Giving (United States). Between 2020 and 2022, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave more than $560 million directly to HBCUs. This is the largest single philanthropic investment in HBCU history. Schools like Dillard University received $20 million. Xavier University received $20 million. These unrestricted gifts allowed schools to invest in infrastructure and student aid. There were no strings attached.
4. HBCU Capital Financing Program (U.S. Department of Education). This federal program provides HBCUs with access to low-interest loans for improvements. It has helped institutions finance more than $3 billion in construction and renovation. The program addresses the $15 billion delayed repair crisis. It makes capital available at rates HBCUs could not secure on the open market (U.S. DOE, 2020).
5. Gallup-UNCF Well-Being Study (United States). The 2019 Gallup-UNCF study documented the HBCU experience. It produces measurably better outcomes in well-being and purpose. Black HBCU graduates were more likely to feel that professors cared about them. They were more likely to have a mentor. They were more likely to be engaged in their education. These are not sentimental observations. They are measurable outcomes that lead to career success.
The Bottom Line
The numbers tell a story that no ceremonial praise can override.
- $3.9B vs. $50B — All 107 HBCUs combined versus Harvard alone (UNCF, 2017)
- $12.8B — Cumulative state funding shortfall for public HBCUs in 19 states (UNCF, 2021)
- $15B+ — Delayed repair needs across the HBCU system (U.S. DOE, 2020)
- 326,000 → 292,000 — HBCU enrollment decline in a single decade (NCES, 2021)
- 3% → 17% / 24% / 80% — Share of colleges vs. share of Black bachelor’s degrees, STEM degrees, and judges produced (UNCF; Thurgood Marshall College Fund)
HBCUs were not weakened by irrelevance. They were weakened by a century of financial strangulation. It was disguised as equal treatment. The institutions that built Black America are being allowed to die. The nation celebrates their legacy in the past tense.
Celebration without investment is eulogy. Every year we deliver eulogies instead of endowments. It is another year these institutions edge closer to a silence from which there is no return.