Dr. Sarina Willis
Recent BLS data shows that graduates of four-year institutions typically earn more than 40% more than someone with an associate’s degree and 66% more than someone who completed only high school. This isn't changing soon. By 2031, 72% of all jobs in this country will require education and training beyond high school. Two-thirds of all jobs that pay good salaries will go to those who possess a college degree. College, in other words, is worth it.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities play a critical role in student success. A 2023 study that examined outcomes of 1.2 million Black students found that those who initially enrolled at an HBCU were nearly 15 percentage points more likely to graduate than those who attended other types of postsecondary institutions.
The study also found that Black students who attended HBCUs had higher household incomes by age 30 than their peers.
Since Prairie View A&M was established in 1876, we have made it our mission to provide high-quality educational opportunities to students from unserved and underserved populations. Currently, nearly three-quarters of our 9,500 students are eligible for Pell Grants. To help learners earn degrees that will generate the social and economic mobility they’re seeking, we know we must provide next-generation student support. That’s why we are building a national model for student success that centers our work around removing barriers and caring for our learners.
We started this work by scrutinizing data on how we assigned classes to available classrooms. What we found was eye-opening. Many departments tried to schedule all of their courses during what we called prime time — between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. This inefficient legacy system of classroom assignments did not support either faculty or students. Worse, it made it unnecessarily difficult for students to get the courses they needed so they could graduate on their timeline. So we ordered each department to schedule no more than 60% of their in-person classes during prime time. That resulted in fewer first-year classes being overenrolled and fewer courses overall being underutilized.
