“There has been an emphasis on increasing degree attainment that’s been going around in different HBCU circles. Administration is really pushing it,” she said. “Graduation rates are not that high so states are under pressure to increase them among the state institutions and HBCUs are also being pushed more.”
While public colleges and universities have had to make enormous cuts to their operating budgets as state economies shrink, Ashley said for HBCUs the impact has been minimal in comparison.
“We’ve always been challenged for resources,” Ashley said. “There are some financial concerns, projects are being delays and everybody is cutting costs, but we haven’t seen dramatic drops.”
In the report, endowments have more than tripled in value and averaged $14 million at each school in 2006. At the same time, students are borrowing more money to finance their studies while federal grants have decreased. The average cost for public HBCUs has risen in the last decade by 38 percent for in-state students and 45 percent for out-of-state students.
Black colleges still struggle on a sore point for tenured faculty, who earn about 20 percent less than their counterparts at all public universities and colleges. The salary gap is smaller for associate and assistant professors, who earn 10 percent less than their public institution counterparts across the board.
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