University Innovation Alliance Aims to Help Low-Income Students Earn a College Degree
The alliance of 11 large public research universities says that it will test and disseminate proven innovations in education so college and universities across the country can be more successful in retaining and graduating all students, including those from low-income families.
Survey Finds Large Racial Differences in Student Loan Debt
According to the Gallup survey, only 22 percent of Black students who graduated college in the 2000-to-2014 period did so without any student loan debt. Half of all Black students who earned their degree in the period had student loan debt of more than $25,000.
Blacks at For-Profit Colleges: Poor Outcomes and Large Amounts of Debt
Blacks make up a disproportionate percentage of students at for-profit schools and only 20 percent complete their degree programs. Many take on large amounts of debt that they can't easily repay.
New Credit Standards Issued for Parent PLUS Loan Program
Johnny C. Taylor Jr., president of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, estimates that since 2011, 28,000 students at the nation's historically Black colleges and universities were negatively impacted by the Education Department decision to tighten credit standards.
Princeton University Seeks More Low-Income Students
Princeton will expand its partnership with Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America and enhance its Freshman Scholars Institute, a summer bridge program for low-income students who plan to major in STEM disciplines.
Pew Research Center Study Shows a Widening Racial Wealth Gap
A widening racial wealth gap impedes the ability of Black families to pay for the college education of their children and grandchildren. Since the Great Recession, the racial wealth gap has expanded significantly.
Alcorn State University Offers In-State Tuition Rates for All Students
In an effort to boost enrollments, Alcorn State University in Mississippi has abolished its dual tuition schedule. Now all students who enroll at the historically Black university will pay the same price, regardless of their state of residence.
Ranking the HBCUs on the Debt Levels of Their Graduates
The average debt level of college graduates in 2013 was $28,400. But some HBCUs are among the schools where students have the lowest average debt and some are among the schools with the highest debt level for graduating students.
School Shooting Victim Gets Full Scholarship to Kentucky State University
On September 30, 2014, Javaughntay Burroughs, a sophomore honor roll student at Fern Creek High School in Louisville, Kentucky, was hit by an errant bullet while walking to his fifth-period class.
Stillman College Cuts Tuition in an Effort to Boost Enrollment
Stillman College, the historically Black educational institution in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has announced that the annual cost of tuition and room and board would be reduced from $22,500 to $17,500 beginning in the fall.
Florida A&M University Professor Produces Documentary Film on Student Loan Debt
Darryl Scriven, professor of philosophy at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, has produced a new documentary film that aims to provide information so college students can limit student loan borrowing.
Sojourner-Douglass College Closes Its Edgewater Campus
All but one of the employees at the Edgewater campus was let go. Students transferred to other area colleges or to Sojourner-Douglass' main campus in Baltimore. The college is facing a loss of its accreditation.
End of the Line for Sojourner-Douglass College?
Sojourner-Douglass College in Baltimore was notified by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education that its appeal to retain its accreditation was denied.
East Carolina University Honors Its First African American Bachelor’s Degree Recipient
Laura Marie Leary earned a bachelor's degree at East Carolina University in 1966. A scholarship named in her honor will be awarded to students who are majoring in fields where minorities have traditionally been underrepresented.
New Scholarship Opportunity for HBCU Students in STEM Fields
The new Apple Scholars program, operated in conjunction with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, will offer a one-year scholarship of up to $25,000 for 30 students at HBCUs and other predominantly Black colleges and universities.
Georgia Tech and Intel Aim to Increase Minorities Pursuing STEM Degrees
The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta has announced a new partnership with Intel Inc. in an effort to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who pursue degrees in engineering and computer science.
University of Michigan in New Recruitment Effort for Low-Income Students
Prohibited from using affirmative action in admissions, the University of Michigan is embarking on a new effort to seek out and recruit low-income students.
National Merit Scholarship Corporation Ends Its Program for Black Students Entering College
In 1964, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation founded the National Achievement Scholarship Program for Outstanding Negro Students entering college. After 51 years that program is ending and a new program will benefit only those students who graduate from predominantly Black colleges.
Large Numbers of Black Students Experience Distress Over the Cost of Higher Education
A new study led by Micere Keels, an associate professor of comparative human development at the University of Chicago, finds that many Black and other minority college students suffer from anxiety over worrying about being able to pay their bills in order to stay enrolled in higher education.
What Are the College Prospects for the 4 Million Black Children Living in Poverty?
In 2014, there were 4,090,000 African Americans under the age of 18 in the United States who were living in poverty. The percentage of Black children in poverty rose from 33.7 percent in 2013 to 37.1 percent in 2014.
Pell Grants Are a Major Factor in College Affordability for African Americans
Nearly 62 percent of all African American undergraduates received a Pell Grant in the 2011-12 academic year. For Whites, 33.5 percent of undergraduates that year were Pell Grant recipients. The average grant to Black students was $3,400.
The Extreme Science Scholars at Morgan State University
The Army Research Laboratory has expanded its effort to increase the number of minority students in STEM fields by creating the Extreme Science Scholar program at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
George Lucas Gives $10 Million to the University of Southern California for Minority Scholarships
The University of Southern California in Los Angeles received a donation of $10 million from the George Lucas Family Foundation. The money will provide scholarships for students in the School of Cinematic Arts with preferences given to African American and Hispanic students.
University Doubles Its Commitment to Minority Graduate Student Financial Aid
The Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has announced a $600,000 annual investment to provide financial aid to graduate students from underrepresented minority groups.
Duke University Becomes the Newest Partner of the QuestBridge Program
QuestBridge, based in Palo Alto, California, connects high-achieving students from low-income families to the nation's most selective colleges and universities.
Brandeis University to Offer New Diversity Scholarships to Graduate Students
Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, has announced the establishment of the Diversity, Excellence, and Inclusion Scholarships. Recipients will receive full-tuition credits and a $10,000 stipend for master's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts.
Spalding University Honors Its First Black Graduates
The new Patricia Lauderdale and Barbara Miller Endowed Scholarship honors the first two African Americans who graduated from what was then Nazareth College in 1951.
Morgan State University Receives the Largest Donation in Its History
Morgan State University in Baltimore believes that the $5 million donation is the fifth largest gift by individuals to any HBCU in the nation. The money will be used for need-based scholarships for students from the City of Baltimore.
University of Cincinnati Launches New Fellowships for Minority Ph.D. Students
The University of Cincinnati has announced that it has created the Provost Graduate Fellowship that will provide financial aid for students from underrepresented minority groups in the university's graduate programs.
The Escalating Debt Problem for African American College Students
An analysis of the student debt load for fourth-year undergraduate students found that in 1990, 69 percent of African American college students had accumulated debt. By 2012, the figure was 90 percent.
New $48 Million Scholarship Program for African Americans in STEM Fields
The Fund II Foundation of Austin, Texas, led by Robert F. Smith, founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, has teamed up with the United Negro College Fund to establish a $48 million scholarship program for African Americans in STEM fields.
New College Scholarship Program to Honor Rev. Clementa Pickney
Rev. Pickney, who was a member of the state Senate in South Carolina, was murdered at the Mother A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, along with eight other parishioners. A new $3.2 million fund honoring Rev. Pickney will provide scholarships for African American college students.
University of California, San Diego Launches Black Academic Excellence Initiative
The goal of the initiative is to increase the number of Black students and faculty on campus and to make the campus environment more welcoming to African Americans. The latest Education Department data shows that Blacks make up just one percent of the undergraduate student body.
New Opportunities for Minority Graduate Students at the University of Southern California
The Graduate Initiative for Diversity, Inclusion and Access aims to increase the diversity of the student body in the graduate school at the university and to broaden academic support for underrepresented minority students.
The Racial Gap in Student Loan Debt Is Highest Among the Most Affluent Families
According to a new study, on average, an African American college graduate has 68 percent more debt than a White college graduate. But the racial gap in student loan debt is highest among affluent Black and White families.
Northwestern University Launches New Scholarship Program for Transfer Students
Under the program, students who graduate from one of the City Colleges of Chicago who are admitted to Northwestern to complete their bachelor's degree, will be eligible for up to $50,000 per year in scholarship money.
