Save our HOWARD UNIVERSITY and HBCUs. Help grow college graduates. Historically [Black] colleges and universities [HBCU] once held a monopoly. Today, they struggle to compete with elite colleges that have stepped up recruiting for the best and brightest [Black] students. Howard admitted almost 60 percent of applicants last year; among current freshmen, the top 25 percent in SAT math and reading scored 1190 and up; 15 years ago the threshold was 1330. Other uncomfortable realities include new restrictions on the federal loans that many students depend on (89 percent of Howard’s receive some sort of financial aid). Howard’s teaching hospital has also been a drain on resources; once the sole choice for middle-class patients in a segregated society, it is now used mostly by those who cannot afford to pay elsewhere. And the university has been hit with a downgrade of its credit rating by Moody’s Investor Service that makes fund-raising even more difficult. Howard is not unique in the constellation of private and public H.B.C.U.’s, or even in the overall higher education community. Earlier this year, Moody’s put out a negative outlook on the entire higher education sector. But as the saying goes, when white America catches a cold, [Black] America catches pneumonia. ... The economic issues that bedevil higher education in general are even more disruptive in the H.B.C.U. community, in part because many of the students are first in their families to go to college. Forty-six percent of students at historically black colleges come from families with incomes lower than $34,000, and half qualify for federal low-income Pell grants, according to the United Negro College Fund, which finances scholarships for 37 private black colleges. The organization also manages a Gates Foundation scholarship program that allows disadvantaged students to choose any institution. Only 19 percent of the recipients have chosen black colleges. Many families have had to scurry for alternative financing, or had to leave their dreams behind altogether, after the Department of Education recently toughened eligibility criteria for Parent Plus loans. A coalition of [Black] organizations have protested [this new Fed. Dept. of Ed policy] what William R. Harvey, president of the historically black Hampton University, called a debacle. ... But damage has been done. Denials have led to some 17,000 fewer students attending black colleges, costing the institutions more than $150 million in revenue, according to the United Negro College Fund. Howard lost 585 students, though about half were readmitted thanks to an intense fund-raising campaign. ... Founded by church organizations and white philanthropists in 1867, Howard had a mission: to educate newly freed [Blacks] after the Civil War. As a result, though it is a private university, Howard has enjoyed special appropriations from the federal government — $200 million in the past decade. But as a result of congressionally mandated, across-the-board cuts — a.k.a., the sequester [!!!] — Howard lost $2 million last year. ... Howard has been in turmoil for several years over its fiscal direction as well as a series of public relations blunders, notably the news of bonuses to high-level administrators amounting to $1.1 million amid cost-cutting and tuition increases. ... Many familiar with the Howard situation, as well as with other troubled H.B.C.U.’s — five have closed their doors in the past 20 years — insist that what is critical for getting back on track is understanding that new occasions teach new duties, in the words of James Russell Lowell. Within 50 years, people of color will be the American majority. The associate director of the White House Initiative on H.B.C.U.’s, Meldon Hollis, shared with me estimates showing that by 2060 the population under 18 is expected to be 38 percent Hispanic, 33 percent white and 15 percent black. And that, he said, is a demographic tidal wave that not only affects white schools but black schools, too. Already, two historically black colleges are now predominantly white — West Virginia State and Bluefield State, also in West Virginia — and one, St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, is predominantly Hispanic. ... Morehouse [College], whose graduates include the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. David Satcher and Spike Lee, lost 500 students between 2009 and 2013. ... Dr. [Wayne A.I.] Frederick [Interim President of Howard U] is confident that Howard can move forward. ... His priorities include the things most agree need urgent attention simultaneously: a financial literacy program for students and their parents; more support for students early on, including fortifying academic advising, to help turn around a four-year graduation rate of 42 percent (63 percent within six years); and the development of new revenue streams and diversification of current ones, concentrating on what most H.B.C.U. presidents say is a major weakness: alumni giving. ... Dr. Frederick, who also has an M.B.A., acknowledges that he has to take a hard look at Howard’s business model. ...
Posted on: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:24:53 +0000
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