More than 20 percent of African-American college graduates receive their degree from an HBCU, and the schools are responsible for producing an impressive proportion of STEM degrees earned by African-Americans, including 31 percent of biological science and math degrees. Moreover, 40 percent of African-American members of Congress, 50 percent of African-American lawyers, and 80 percent of African-American judges graduated from an HBCU.
But HBCUS are currently reeling from rising costs, declining enrollment and a host of other obstacles that are rocking the entire higher education sector.
Those trends have had a concentrated effect on HBCUs, which primarily serve low-income and first-generation students who rely more heavily on student loans and who are also in need of more remedial education.
"I am not convinced, frankly, that this administration is even aware of the importance of the history of HBCUs," Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, says. "It's not for a photo op. It is not to make you look like you're doing something. It's a real thing and if we cannot get to the bottom of where we are with support, and I have not seen that forthcoming at this point, then I think we have a sham."
SOURCE: U.S. News
