HBCU Digest is reporting that financial hurdles for low-income first generation college students,  increases in admissions standards, and outdated recruitment practices are causing student enrollment to drop at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Declining student enrollment at HBCUs, which are primarily tuition-dependent universities, can potentially make it difficult to ensure a quality education and success for all students.
The article reports that the changing admissions practices of many HBCUs are contributing to decreased student enrollment. The author writes:
“There is nothing wrong with HBCUs seeking to attract the best and brightest students, but there is a structural problem with HBCUs when they deny admissions to the students they now, and historically, have served. There are not enough top-tier students to fill HBCU campuses, and in forsaking the market of students they currently serve and replacing them with “better students,” they will continue to experience enrollment declines from which they will be unable to recover.”
To ensure their continued longevity, the article states that HBCUs must make student enrollment their number one priority, while also increasing alumni contributions, institutional endowments, and other revenue sources.
Without deliberate and decisive action, many HBCUs may be left fighting for survival.
Read more at HBCUDigest.com.
This post was written by Reginald Calhoun, editorial assistant for The Burton Wire. He is a Junior Journalism major at Clark-Atlanta University. Follow him on Twitter @IRMarsean.
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