Black Students Are 40% More Likely to Earn Degrees at HBCUs—Here's Why
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HBCUs are known for their commitments to social justice, supportive faculty, strong alumni communities—and the results they get.
Aron Smith/Jackson State University via Getty Images
Black students are thriving at HBCUs, and a recent study proves it. According to a report by Brown University, Black students are 40% more likely to earn their bachelor’s degrees at HBCUs than Black students at other schools. A 2024 White House fact sheet further notes that HBCUs are responsible for producing a large percentage of all Black professionals in engineering (40%), teaching (50%), medicine (70%), and judicial careers (80%).According to UNCF, ‘the numbers don’t lie.’ While HBCUs represent only 3% of American colleges and universities and enroll just about 10% of the country’s Black population, these institutions produce nearly 20% of all Black American graduates. And after a few application surges, most notably following the death of George Floyd and again after the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision to remove college and university race considerations in admissions, there’s been curiosity about the special sauce for Black student success at HBCUs. Though there’s no catchall, Kindred by Parents spoke to an HBCU legacy family, an alumnus, and an administrator at a university that ranks as a top producer of Black American doctors to discover what magic historically Black colleges and universities possess.Kyleigh Reese Hankton, an alumna and current student at Alcorn State University, said her mother, Dionne Atley-McCurry, also an alumna of Alcorn, gave her a choice of 107 institutions of higher education—the exact number of HBCU-designated schools—to choose from when she was considering colleges. “That's what excellence looked like for me,” Atley-McCurry says. “Both of my parents are HBCU graduates—my mother is Xavierite, and my father [graduated from Alcorn] and that's all I knew. It wasn't a choice for me. I did have the opportunity to attend both an HBCU and a PWI [predominantly white institution] because my second degree came from a PWI, but the atmosphere was completely different.”Hankton says she knew Alcorn was the one when she first visited campus, and now she knows she couldn’t have made a better decision. She holds a Bachelor of Science in biology from the university and is working towards her nursing Bachelor of Science there.“I love all HBCUs, but Alcorn is where I needed to be—it was meant for me,” Hankton tells Kindred by Parents. “It fosters a community of safety and I [feel] supported in just being confident in who I am and going into spaces where there are not many who look like me. They've provided me with that confidence even with growing academically and socially; they've gotten me out of my shell.”Hankton says there’s encouragement to succeed on all fronts coming from fellow students, professors, and administrators.“They want to see you succeed in all areas of life,” she says. Given that, staying at Alcorn for a second degree was the natural progression for Hankton.“I feel comfortable here,” she says. “I knew that staying at Alcorn, I was going to have family. I had teachers, other students, and friends that I could lean on for support. Especially going to nursing school, there's nothing like having such a strong support system. You really, really need that because there are days when you're by yourself for days on end just with your classmates, and you need people that you're familiar with, so I really felt like that's where I need to be.”In 2020, Alcorn was ranked number 1 on Nursing School Hub’s Top 25 list of HBCU nursing schools. It has since remained in the top ten.However, Kyleigh's, her mother's, and her grandfather’s success at Alcorn isn’t the family’s only legacy claim to the HBCU. Younger sister Madison is also enrolled at the university, and it’s changed the academically sound student in unimaginable ways, Atley-McCurry says.“Madison is my middle daughter—she went to the number four school here in Houston and had the most college acceptances of her class, and she chose Alcorn,” Atley-McCurry says.Madison is a rising junior double-majoring in math and computer science, who Mom says was never very outgoing. “When [Madison] got on that campus, she found her voice. She came alive. She's always been very smart, but she's quiet. Seeing her blossom around other people who look like her and just evolving, I'm so proud.”Madison has been active in student government and other programs around Alcorn, and it has a lot to do with how she feels supported. “There are a lot of people there who want to help you,” she says. “[Alcorn is] very good with trying to get you on the right track to graduate.Such success isn’t solely tied to the Mississippi HBCU; it’s woven into the fabric of historically Black colleges and universities. According to UNCF, success comes at a higher rate for students who enter schools with open enrollment, notably taking some from the bottom 40% of earners to the top 60% of earners. According to a 2021 report, Xavier University of Louisiana, which uses a holistic assessment for admissions decisions, ranked number one in social mobility. Curtis Wright, vice president of student affairs at Xavier, says that the success of Xavier students and graduates is tied to Black excellence and representation. “When [students] come to an HBCU, specifically at Xavier, they can be themselves, allowing them to focus on whatever is in front of them in the classroom,” Wright says. “Oftentimes, Black students look out into the world and see all these great possibilities, but they don't always see it when they look in the mirror. So, when they come to a place like Xavier, they can look out into the world and see these great possibilities being executed by people who look like them. So, whether it's their classmates, their faculty, or the staff, Black brilliance is just a part of their everyday life.” Xavier graduates also recognize the need to pay it all forward, contributing to success. “[Alumni] give back is through mentoring and through partnering with the students and prospective students in their hometowns and where they're from, because that tells that student that they have a village that goes beyond the walls of Xavier, and that lets that family know that there are people caring for them who have no reason to other than this institution connects them,” Wright says. “By linking our families with our alumni to our students and faculty and staff, I think our students have this larger network of people championing them and people preparing them for a world that may not know how to celebrate and affirm them.”Class of 2001 alumnus Varion Laurent has been out in the world for several years. However, he still credits Xavier for his current successes, including being invited to create artwork for the Disney Parks attraction Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. He says he was at the right place and time, armed with the confidence to talk himself up and showcase his work when the opportunity arose. “The good thing about attending an HBCU, especially Xavier University, is the fact that you're prepared for the things that a book can't necessarily teach you,” Laurent tells Kindred by Parents. “For me, at that moment, I would say that Xavier was reinforcing a lot of what I was already getting at home in terms of knowing the importance of being prepared and, when that moment comes, being successful in it by showing how prepared you are, because opportunities are few and far between.”Preparing the whole student for the world ahead of them, along with alumni support and pride, creates a culture of continued success and is the common thread among HBCUs and likely a huge part of graduate success. For more Parents news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Parents.
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