Almost every institution in America, if not the world, is seeking ways to enhance its stability. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are paramount among this group.
While these institutions only represent 2 percent of all American colleges and universities, they enroll about 12 percent of all Black college students and produce 25 percent of all Black college graduates. Data also shows that HBCUs confer about 41 percent of all degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — disciplines where America is losing its edge the fastest. Additionally, about 38 percent of all Black healthcare professionals are graduates of HBCUs.
Yet, as a group, these institutions have never had the resources that other institutions of a similar size and stature have amassed. And with the reported end of the national recession in June 2009, the residual effects are posing a devastating toll on HBCUs, especially those with enrollments under 2,500 students. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the unofficial start and end of a national recession in the United States is defined by “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real gross domestic product (GDP), real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.”
Judith Warner, author of We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication, points out that “economists may assert that we’re in the early stages of a recovery, but surveys continue to show that the impact of the Great Recession on American families is deep, widespread and grim.” Most of us at HBCUs strongly agree.
A report by the Population Reference Bureau shows that more than 70 percent of Americans age 40 and over feel they have been affected by the economic crisis. Government data indicate that the net worth of the average American household has shrunk by about 20 percent — the greatest such decline since the end of World War II. Long-term unemployment — joblessness lasting six months or more — is also at its highest level since the mid-1940s.
According to the Rockefeller Institute, 20 percent of Americans have seen their available household income decline by 25 percent or more. Thus, it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for families, especially those represented at most HBCUs, to finance a postsecondary education.
As President of Lincoln University, the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU, our greatest need is scholarship support. When short of funds, even as little as $500, students’ recourse is often to stop-out or drop-out to find work to help with the family or raise money to stay in school.
