hbcu news

Dear Graduate,

I am writing this missive because it is important to pass along information that may help you avoid pitfalls including making choices that have unintended consequences. Unfortunately, when I completed my bachelors degree at Cheyney University no one provided me with a road map or a detailed outline. In retrospect, I would have benefited from insight from a college graduate offering advice on a variety of issues including the importance of financial literacy, networking and long-term planning. 

For my first Easter Sunday in New York, I drove to Queens with my significant other to spend the holiday with a fellow alum from Tennessee State University. She and I met through our alma mater’s local chapter. After eating, laughing and chatting, the women headed to the kitchen to help clean up while the men sat in the other room discussing sports and politics. Ms. Betty graduated from TSU in the ‘60s, and I four decades later. Somehow while washing dishes and scooping out ice cream for dessert the conversation led to HBCUs and alumni giving.

Earlier this month U.S. News & World Report released The Short List: College, which is a regular series that assesses specific areas of our nation’s colleges and universities. One of the reports within the series focused on the top 10 HBCUs Where Alumni Give the Most and it got me to thinking, “What can the remaining 95 HBCUs do to get on this list? Are they doing something wrong or not doing enough? And the Top 10 schools, do they just have better alumni?”

The current hot button article is about finding your spouse while you are in college. Frankly I am not a fan, believing that there are issues of maturity that need to be in place before closing in on the spouse. However, there is something in the basic premise that does hold water. Your college classmates are the people who have come to know you over a significant period of time, in good times and bad, and represent a comfort level of shared experience at least while in college. They are also aware of your talents and interests, goals and aspirations, skills (and your weaknesses or issues). They may share similar interests and dreams. You like each other.

In 2010, when David Wilson became president of Morgan State University, the public, historically Black, institution in Maryland had an alumni giving rate similar to most public HBCUs, and in fact, similar to most public, regional institutions — 6 percent (Gasman & Bowman, 2010).