Small- and middle-sized independent colleges have fared the economic recession well during the past six months, but historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in that category face special problems, according to Dr. Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges.
“When the crisis hit last fall, many of our members focused on students coming back in January and helped with financial aid. As a result many did,” Ekman told Diverse in an interview.
Also helping were the facts that the council’s 587 members are not big public colleges affected by state budget cuts or private schools with large endowments that have taken huge hits in the past year because of stock market drops, he said.
The private HBCUs that are members of Ekman’s group confront special issues. “They have tighter operating budgets so the margin for error is tight,” he says. Nor do many HBCUs have big endowments to fall back on, with the exception of Spelman College in Atlanta.
Even so, some HBCUs and schools with large Latino populations have done remarkable jobs in tough times, especially in the area of retention.
“Xavier in New Orleans has had record enrollments,” he said.
But many others are simply “holding their own,” during these tough times and find it hard to retain students. “It is harder to retain a student from sophomore to junior year than it is recruiting a new one,” Ekman notes.
