Interest in HBCUs increases after ban on positive discrimination

In recent weeks, numerous highly selective colleges have reported a significant decline in the number of black first-year students. Most institutions attribute this decline to the Supreme Court's ban on affirmative action in 2023.

But what is a challenge for one college is an opportunity for another: The colleges and universities that traditionally serve African-Americans seem to be benefiting from an unexpected influx of applicants and new students this fall.

Applications to Hampton University, a private HBCU in Virginia, rose from 13,000 to 17,000 for the class of 2028. Morehouse College, an all-male college in Atlanta, had more than 8,000 applications this year, a 34 percent increase from last year's 6,000, according to data the college provided to the university. Inside Higher EdAt Howard University — often called the “Harvard of HBCUs” because of its selectivity and its list of notable alumni, including Vice President Kamala Harris — applications increased 10 percent from the previous cycle, from 33,000 to 36,300.

Early data for the class of 2028 suggest fall enrollment at HBCUs is following suit. At Alabama State University, freshman enrollment increased 12.5 percent, including freshmen, according to a university statement. At Bethune-Cookman University in Florida, freshman enrollment increased from 814 in fall 2023 to 1,150 this year.

Such increases are based on an overall 4 percent increase in enrollment at HBCUs for the spring semester, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

According to Tashni-Ann Dubroy, Howard's executive vice president and chief operating officer, the number of freshmen students at Howard increased from 2,268 in 2023 to 2,796. Dubroy said Inside Higher Ed that her institution had expected an increase in applications since last year.

“After the Supreme Court decision, we knew there would be increased interest from African-American students, who typically have multiple options, including predominantly white institutions,” she said.

Harry Williams, president of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a nonprofit that advocates for public HBCUs, said he has heard about enrollment surges from leaders of nearly all of the fund's 42 member institutions, including those that have not yet made their enrollment data public.

“Alabama State, North Carolina A&T, Morgan State – they're all posting record numbers. Even smaller schools like Bowie State [in Maryland] bursting at the seams,” he said. “After [the] positive discrimination [ruling]”Interest in historically black colleges and universities is greater than ever before.”

“Value in the feeling of belonging”

This isn't the first time HBCUs have seen an enrollment boom. Interest in the universities has been rising for nearly a decade, with a significant increase in 2020 when the murder of George Floyd sparked a national reckoning with systemic racism in higher education and beyond; President David Thomas said Morehouse saw a 60 percent increase in applications that year.

Williams said interest has only increased over the past two years as the pendulum has swung away from the 2020 reforms and attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion have intensified.

“Everything that's happening politically, from affirmative action to DEI, sends the message to black students that they don't belong,” he said. “At an HBCU, that question is never asked, and all the support, resources and scholarships that are eliminated elsewhere are already built into the structure. [at HBCUs] … the feeling of belonging has value.”

Dubroy put it simply: “Nobody wants to go somewhere they don’t feel welcome,” she said.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Williams added that the increase in enrollment at HBCUs is particularly notable considering the likely impact of the botched rollout of federal aid forms last cycle, which disproportionately affected low-income students of color — a population that is heavily represented at most HBCUs.

Thomas said HBCUs should take advantage of increased interest, particularly from black, middle-class, Generation Y families, by showing that their degrees can be worth as much or more than those from highly selective, predominantly white institutions.

“I told my colleagues that we have been energized by this social and cultural moment,” he said. “Now we need to make our value proposition.”

Too much of a good thing?

Growing student interest in HBCUs raises an important question: Can the often underfunded institutions afford to accept so many new students?

Williams said HBCU presidents have been concerned about this for years as enrollment has steadily increased, but the post-affirmative action surge in applications has put their capacity in stark contrast to the predominantly white institutions with which they now face greater competition.

“The [enrollment] “The recovery has created another challenge for our institution, and that is infrastructure,” he said. “It is certainly a positive thing, but the presidents of all our institutions are concerned about whether it can be sustainable.”

Thomas said Morehouse exceeded all of its enrollment goals this fall; the current student population of 2,584 is nearly 300 over the budgeted number. He said the college instituted a three-year on-campus living requirement for students in 2016, but the increase in enrollment forced them to abandon it due to a housing shortage.

“We are really limited in how many students we can physically serve, and that's true of Spelman, Howard, Morgan State and many others,” Thomas said. “These are problems that could be solved with more funding.”

Although North Carolina A&T, the nation's largest HBCU, received a whopping 12,000 more applications than last fall, enrollment this fall was actually lower than last year. That was done in part to avoid another fine from the state legislature, which is enforcing a limit on out-of-state students' enrollment at the university, A&T spokesman Todd Simmons said.

But it's also because they currently have neither the housing nor the infrastructure to grow. Over the past two years, the university has bought six off-campus apartment buildings, and work is nearing completion on a 405-bed dormitory. The new accommodation is crucial; in January, authorities had to relocate hundreds of students to hotel rooms after heating systems in the dormitories failed.

“We are growing incrementally, and in a way that we can manage,” Simmons said.

Thomas, Morehouse's president, pointed to another problem that can arise from the influx of applications: If HBCUs can't afford to accept more students, they simply become more exclusive. In 2020, Morehouse accepted 75 percent of applicants; this year, that number has dropped to 43 percent, he said.

“We don't want to portray exclusivity as a virtue, like so many Ivy League colleges,” he said. “HBCUs have always been about giving opportunities to as many people as possible. We don't want to lose sight of that as we become increasingly competitive.”