8. HBCUs are "historically" Black, but how Black are they today?

1. What is an HBCU?

• The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: " ... any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation."

2. Why are HBCUs still needed?

• The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) has provided a widely referenced historical rationale on its Website -- http://www.uncf.org/aboutus/hbcus.asp.
  
  
• The Editor of the Gateway provides comments on the UNCF response together with an alternative behavioral rationale

3. Who maintains the official list of HBCUs?

The White House Initiative on HBCUs maintains the official list of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

• Unfortunately, there are many so-called "lists of HBCUs" on the Web that include colleges and universities that are not HBCUs. These additional institutions may have predominantly Black enrollments and may be providing excellent educational services to their students, but they are not on the official list maintained by the White House Initiative. Therefore they are not HBCUs.
  
  
• Other so-called "lists of HBCUs" are incomplete because they don't include all HBCUs. They leave out some of the lesser known four year colleges and/or some of the community colleges.
  
  
• Then there are the so-called "lists of HBCUs" that are obsolete because they don't use the correct names for the HBCUs that expanded the scope of their services and therefore changed their names from "college" to "university".
  
  
• Finally, there are the so-called "lists of HBCUs" that are obsolete because they still include institutions that have closed and/or institutions that have lost their accreditations.

In summary, the White House Initiative and only the White House Initiative determines which colleges and universities are HBCUs. Therefore the list of HBCUs on any other Website will be valid if and only if it contains all of the colleges and universities on the official list posted on the Website maintained by the White House Initiative and only the colleges and universities on that official list.

4. How many HBCUs are there?

There are officially only 104 HBCUs at this time.

5. Where are the HBCUs located?

The following table shows the distribution of the HBCUs across the Mid-Atlantic, Central, and Southern states. (Note: The addresses and Google maps for each HBCU can be found on the Gateway's Profiles page.)

6. How many students are enrolled in HBCUs?

The following table shows the distribution of enrollment levels. The table shows that most HBCUs have enrollments less than or equal 5,000 students. Indeed, most HBCUs enroll less than 3,000 students. On the other hand, there are no large HBCUs, i.e., there are no HBCUs having enrollments greater than 13,000 students.

(Note: Enrollment data was obtained from the U.S. Department of Education's College Navigator database. The grand total is less than 104 because the database did not display enrollments for five small HBCUs when this table was constructed on 12/6/06. The enrollment of each HBCU can also be found on the Gateway's Profiles page.)

7. What's the male/female breakdown of HBCU enrollments?

The following table shows the distribution of male enrollment percentages. The table shows that women outnumber the men in most HBCUs. Men constitute no more than 40 percent of of the enrollments in the majority of the HBCUs included in the table.

(Note: Male enrollment percentages were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education's College Navigator database. One two HBCUs (Bennett and Spelman) only enroll women, and one HBCU (Morehouse) only enrolls men. The grand total is less than 104 because the College Navigator database did not display enrollments for five HBCUs when this table was constructed on 12/6/06. The actual percentage of male enrollment for each HBCU can also be found on the Gateway's Profiles page.)

8. HBCUs are "historically" Black, but how Black are they today?

Although their enrollments are becoming more diverse, today the vast majority of HBCUs continue to be predominantly Black institutions, as will be seen from the following table that shows the distribution of Black (Non-Hispanic) enrollment percentages. In 83 out of the 96 HBCUs classified by the table, African Americans represent more than 75 percent of total enrollments.

(Note: Black Non-Hispanic enrollment percentages were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education's College Navigator database.The grand total is less than 104 because the database did not display enrollments for eight HBCUs when this table was constructed on 12/6/06.The Black Non-Hispanic enrollment percentage of each HBCU can also be found on the Gateway's Profiles page.)

9. What are the best sources of information about HBCUs?

• By far, the best sources of information about HBCUs are their Websites. You will find links to all of the HBCU Websites on the Gateway's HBCU Profiles page.
  
  
• At the present time, the Gateway to HBCUs is the most reliable source of information about the current academic activities of HBCUs, i.e., their teaching, research, and community services. Readers are referred to the Gateway's Announcements, Events, HBCU Profiles, Working Papers, and directories of distance learning and programs for non-traditional students.
  
  
• The most comprehensive sources of information about the historical achievements of HBCUs, e.g., their most notable alumni, are the richly interlinked pages of Wikipedia.