President's Message
HBCU Colleges & Universities
HBCU Presidents Advisory Board
HBCU Title III Administrators
HBCU Title III Program Officers/Committees
Dept. of Education
What's Happening in Title III
HBCU Importance "Raison d' etre"
HBCU Experience
Jobs Opportunities |
Perry Herrington, President
Supporting 105 HBCUs
Title III Administrators - Member Login
FY 2008 (Estimated)
Number of New Awards: 0
Number of Continuation Awards:
96 HBCU's
HBGI's 18
Average Continuation Award:
$2,480,000 HBCU's
$3,161,000 HBGI's
Total Continuation Award Funding:
$238,095,000 HBCU's
$56,903,000 HBGI's
College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA)
Number of New Awards: 96
Average New Award: $885,000
Total New Award Funding: $85,000,000
Total Award Funding: $323,095,000
Discretionary: $238,095,000;
Mandatory: $85,000,000
Donate to support HBCUs?
|
|
|
 |
Our goal Our goal is to strengthen the
resource development capacity of Historically
Black Colleges and Universities by moving
each into the academic mainstream of American
Higher Education and, in so doing,
provide a quality education to the
students that matriculate therein.
|
|
|
The HBCU Experience
|
Where you choose to go to college can be one of the most important decisions
you make. There are many different classifications of colleges and universities.
There are colleges designated just for women or for men, colleges with religious
affiliations, and the list goes on. One type of school we have in the United States
is a historically black college or universities, or “HBCUs.” Most of our nation’s
HBCUs were founded in the 1800’s as a result of the Civil War’s end and the recognized
need for educational institutions for freed slaves and Native Americans. Located
mostly in the southeastern portion of the United States, HBCUs have graduated several
individuals who have significantly impacted history.
|
 |
People such as Martin Luther King, W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, all graduated
from HBCUs. You may wonder why HBCUs still exist generations after slavery and years
after the civil rights movement. The answer is in the effectiveness of these institutions
in graduating students from various backgrounds, particularly African Americans.
When asked what it means to attend an HBCU, I usually respond with: “The odds are
in your favor.” I was raised in a city with one of the largest predominantly white
schools in the nation. By default, I assumed I was to attend that university. It
was close to home, and I knew a lot of people who went there. But when it came time
for me to select a college, my father took my brother and I for a journey to visit
two highly recommended schools, both of which happened to be HBCUs.
The difference
in environment and student atmosphere was astounding! I was taken on tours and greeted
by students in their dorms. I felt that the faculty wanted me there. Upon returning
home from that trip, with applications in hand, I applied to two HBCUs. A few months
later, I was accepted to both. I decided to attend Hampton University. There, I
learned what it meant to attend an HBCU. I remember the day my parents dropped me
off at Hampton University. I almost cried as my parents left me in the hands of
a university known to us mostly by its impressive reputation in the black community.
I worried about how my parents would have to sacrifice to come up with the tuition
and fees to cover my college expenses. However, the odds were in my favor, as my
choice to attend an HBCU, along with a fair share of hard work, led to my receiving
a full scholarship from a company that specifically recruited minority students
from select HBCUs. I didn’t realize there would be benefits such as this when I
first decided to attend an HBCU!
One thing you’ll begin to realize once you set
foot into that first classroom is that you have no excuse for failure. Being that
most of my classmates and professors were black, I knew I was going to at least
get a fair chance. Another benefits of attending an HBCU is the fact that most HBCUs
have low student to faculty ratios, which means you can try sitting in the front
of the class for a change. I have seen students shy away from HBCUs because they
are not sure how companies that hire college graduates will view a degree from one
of these institutions.
Through experience, I have come to the conclusion that attending
an HBCU can be an advantage for minorities entering the work force. Consider the
fact that many, if not most, Fortune 500 companies recruit at HBCUs because they
value diversity. Also, most HBCUs will have a career center or job-placement office.
You can set up on-campus interviews and participate in job fairs that attract companies
interested in hiring blacks and minorities. Not only do you have ample opportunities
for employment with a degree from an HBCU, you also will be recruited by graduate
schools looking for minority students.
HBCUs lead the acceptance rates into medical
school and law school among black graduates. For those of you who are concerned
about the quality of education or value of your degree from an HBCU, consider the
fact that the first college-of-the year appointment by Time magazine was to an HBCU.
One of the main reasons I chose to attend an HBCU was because of a sub-conscious
awareness I had of the difference in environment at an HBCU versus that of a majority
institution.
The history behind our black colleges and some of the HBCU alumni who
have contributed to society is beyond impressive. I could have easily attended a
community college. But compare the pride of a graduate from Howard or Florida A&M
University versus the pride of your local community-college graduate. I could have
easily attended the cost-friendly local university, but everyone I knew who went
to that university either dropped out or never seemed to graduate. Then I realized
the only people in my immediate family who had graduated from college at the time
had attended an HBCU! Those that went to other institutions became disinterested
in school and dropped out. I thought this might be a coincidence, but I soon found
out that it was far from chance. I have come across various statistics that clearly
show that HBCUs graduate black students at much higher rates than other institutions.
My gut feeling about attending an HBCU turned out to be one of the best things I
have ever done in life. Six years ago, I walked across the stage of our newly constructed
Convocation center to receive my diploma. I was most proud of the fact that, due
to my hard work in class, my parents did not have to pay for my tuition. Also, I
graduated in four years. I am pretty sure if I attended the local university, mine
would have been a very different story. The friends I made, the relationships I
formed with my professors and the experiences I had in the marching band left lasting
impressions on me.
I was in college when I first heard the term “HBCU.” Now the
acronym is a common term on television and in college conversation. In the six years
I have spent in the technical workforce since graduation, I have met and worked
with other black professionals. I quickly learned that more than 90 percent of those
black professionals attended HBCUs, like myself. Not only was I impressed with the
education that I received from an HBCU, but I was also extremely impressed by my
colleagues who graduated from HBCUs as well. Some of the energy and drive that was
instilled in the character of myself and fellow colleague Shawn Starks resulted
in the creation of www.hbcu-central.com.
How often is it that you are so influenced
by something that you spend most of your free time working on it without pay? Well,
that is how much influence our HBCUs have had on us. We have designed a Web site
that started as a way for fellow HBCU alumni to keep in touch but has turned into
an HBCU support system. We want other individuals to benefit from the HBCU experience
as much as we did, so we are now dedicated to providing the Internet infrastructure
to help make it happen. Expect to see enrollment and overall growth of HBCUs increase.
Graduates of these institutions now have the Internet to help spread the good word
about their experiences at HBCUs.
HBCUs are also being featured on television and
in other high-profile forms of media. This is all due to the fact that there are
individuals who can appreciate their worth and their place in history. If you are
considering college, why not consider attending a school where the odds will be
in your favor? William R. Moss III is co-founder of www.hbcu-central.com.
SOURCE: Reprinted from http://www.nextstepmagazine.com/ |
© 2007 - National Association of HBCU - Title III Administrators, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Report errors/concerns to support@mobleyinc.com.
|