With only 105 HBCUs in the United States, making up only 3% percent of the nation's 3,688 institutions of higher learning, you should know HBCUs are responsible for producing approximately 23 % of all bachelor's degrees, 13 % of all master's degrees, and 20 % of all first professional degrees earned by African Americans annually. Impressive right? Pat yourself on the back if you got a degree from a HBCU!
With the success of films like School Daze, Drum Line andStomp the Yard - it has all assited with promoting the existence of HBCUs but I have to still have to tell people - sorry, there is no such school as Truth University or Atlanta A&T.
Being honest, everybody including myself that’s gone to an black college has a moment where they had to get out of character but only to take care of business. I'm sure I'm not the only one who had get intense with financial aid receptionist, almost come across the counter for your class transcript, had to put a campus security guard in check for a parking ticket, got a attitude with the book store clerk when they gave you little to no money back for a course book or had to get loud with your dorm's RA. These situations made my black college experience memerable but to others, those seem like reasons HBCUs need to be avoided.
Then there are the typical myths about black colleges: 1) Black schools do not prepare you for the real world 2) HBCUs have lower admissions standards and costs than many of the competitive and highly competitive institutions, they must be lesser quality institutions 3) Being in an all-Black environment is artificial and limiting 4) HBCUs are party schools and 5) A degree from an HBCU may be undervalued by prospective employers. These same people saying "you wont become anything if you go to a Black college" are the same people who watch Lance Gross (Howard alumni) weekly on Tyler Perry'sHouse of Payne tv sitcom, routed for Taraj P. Henson (Howard alumni) who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars two years ago, bought Erykah Badu (Grambling alumni) albums and laughed at the hilarious comedy on In Living Color created by Keenan Ivory Wayans (Tuskegee alumni).
I personally feel like HBCU’s aren't as hard to get into as Ivy League schools but it is hard to graduate from one. Yes the curriculums may be different, but the situations and personalities that you have to put up with at a HBCU prepares you for the real world. I personally know, its hard out here once your graduated from of school, especially if you are minority. The #1 thing I learned is that HBCU’s show you that nothing is handed, everything is earned.
I can't sit here and say "if you go to non-HBCU" you will get a job right out of college because it's all about the individuals drive to want to succeed. Let's face it, we all know some people who went to non-HBCUs, graduated and now they living back at home with parents, two kids and work at FedEx. Others who barely went to class and left their HBCU early because "college isn't for everyone", are now working and running some of our local area's top non-profit organizations. It's just that some black folks NEED smaller black schools to find the strength of their people. I personally choose to attend a HBCU because in keeping with tradition, majority of my family attended VSU and at a HBCU I actually developed a relationship with my professors and wasn't just a number sitting in the lecture waiting for Professor Klump to dismiss class. So I recommend HBCUs for every Black student planning on continuing their education unless you have a certain specialty that a HBCU does not provide training in - something like building oil tanks.
What is most important about our HBCUs isn't the GPA acceptance rate or the the amount of partying that goes on because trust me, it does go down at Homecoming! It's the tradition these schools hold in our families and to OUR people. In our generation now, we have the choice to either go to a HBCU or non-HBCU but for our grandparents and some folks parents, they didn't have that choice.Little known facts like Tuskeegee University being the only college ever to be designated a national historic site by the U.S. Congress is a major black history fact. So the next time you or someone you know wants to down-play the existence of a HBCU, you think about the fact that it was designed with US in mind so that WE as a people can advance and teach our own.
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