Applications to public historically Black colleges and universities have skyrocketed 126% since 2004—far outpacing national trends—even as these institutions struggle with endowments that are a third the size of their private HBCU counterparts, according to a new report released Thursday.
Dr. M. C. Brown II
The report from the Dr. N. Joyce Payne Research Center at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund represents the most comprehensive data-driven analysis to date of public HBCUs' contributions to national competitiveness.
"The data is clear and the message is urgent: public HBCUs are not just educational institutions; they are strategic national assets," said Dr. M. C. Brown II, executive director of the Payne Center and lead author of the report. "We are leaving immense national potential on the table by not addressing the resource inequities that have persisted for decades."
Public HBCUs account for 80% of all ABET-accredited engineering programs among HBCUs and represent 85% of HBCUs classified as high-research-activity institutions, the report found. These schools educate 80% of all HBCU students nationwide while receiving disproportionately less federal support per student than private HBCUs.
Nearly 70% of public HBCU graduates reach middle-class status or above—a mobility rate approximately 50% higher than graduates from predominantly white institutions, according to the analysis. Seven of the top 10 HBCUs with the highest economic mobility rates are public institutions.
Yet the average public HBCU maintains an endowment of $41 million, compared to $133 million for private HBCUs, despite serving three times as many undergraduate students. The funding disparity extends to federal allocations, with public HBCUs educating 80% of HBCU students but receiving only 30% of federal HBCU funding.
