Over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the country, some of which have existed for over 150 years, were created with the mission to educate Black students.
In 2010, about 326,000 students attended HBCUs. In 2022, that number dropped to 290,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The enrollment of Black men at HBCUs dropped to its lowest rate in nearly 50 years in 2023, according to Forbes.
Some West Side schools, like DRW College Prep and North Lawndale College Prep, are actively aiming to reverse this drop in enrollment by exposing students to the experiences of HBCU alumni and the rich history of their colleges and universities.
Noble Schools operates 17 free, public charter schools across Chicago, including DRW College Prep in North Lawndale and ITW David Speer Academy on the north edge of Austin. Since 2020, Noble has held an HBCU college fair every fall.
“It was really to bump up the HBCU enrollment, due to the decline that we’ve seen over the years,” said Kevin McLurkin, alumni success coach of Noble Schools. A few years ago, McLurkin said some Noble high schools were focusing more on HBCUs when discussing college curriculum than others. So Noble launched the career fair “to make sure that every school in the network gets access to and gets to see HBCUs, talk to representatives and establish relationships with recruiters.”
At Noble’s HBCU college fair late last year, over 400 students connected with admissions counselors from 15 HBCUs. Multiple DRW students received on-the-spot acceptances.
McLurkin said, last year, three or four DRW College Prep students attended HBCUs upon graduation. He said that’s a “sizeable amount” and similar to the number of DRW students who have committed to HBCUs in previous years.
D9 Takeover
In February, North Lawndale College Prep hosted its annual D9 Takeover, inviting members from nine historically Black fraternities and sororities to share their experiences with students, mentor small groups of them, and guide individuals through the scholarship process.
Alexis Tucker, director of school counseling and post-secondary advising at North Lawndale College Prep, said Kennith Rogers, teacher and coach at the school, first suggested the D9 Takeover nearly 5 years ago.
“He wanted to put those opportunities in front of our scholars before they graduate from our doors, so that they know what’s possible when they leave,” Tucker said. “The more that they’re able to see successful staff members and people that they know in a real-world context who come from these rich institutions, it makes a world of difference on what they think is actually possible for themselves.”
“We want our students not only to get into college, but to thrive once they get there,” said North Lawndale College Prep Principal Kyera Bradley, an alum of Howard University, an HBCU, in a statement. “For many of our young people, especially those who are first-generation college students, walking onto a campus can feel overwhelming. This event helps them build real relationships with people who can say, ‘I’ve been where you are, and here’s how I navigated it.’”
NLCP was founded over 25 years ago and has since empowered more than 1,900 students to enroll in college, 500 of whom have attended with zero out-of-pocket costs.
Tucker said that NLCP has seen a high percentage of its students applying to HBCUs. Last school year, 91 of 172 NLCP students applied to HBCUs, or 63%. This school year, 70 of 103 students applied to HBCUs, or 68%.
Tucker attributes that to an increase in students’ exposure to HBCUs, both through events like the D9 Takeover and alumni that work at their schools, but also in media and pop culture.
Along with affordability and academic majors, racial identity is something Tucker encourages students to consider when assessing colleges, “especially in a time such as this, because that is, I think, a key metric around belonging.”
National decreasing enrollment
While enrollment to HBCUs remains steady, or even increasing, in some West Side high schools, on a national level, enrollment is decreasing.
Tucker said there could be fewer students attending HBCUs because of the high expense of college education and inaccessibility of applying for financial assistance.
“We look at making sure that, before students commit to any kind of school, they’re really able to look at the net cost to go there,” said Tucker, who got a full-ride scholarship to Howard University, “then to be able to circumvent some of those financial challenges by applying for the scholarships in a very rigid and routine way so they have a zero-cost balance. Or we need to look somewhere else. Even though HBCUs are great, we shouldn’t have to go into momentous debt to get an education.”
NLCP serves primarily low-income, first-generation students, about half of whom are from North Lawndale and 99% of whom are Black. According to NLCP, 15% of North Lawndale residents have a college degree, compared to 44% citywide.
McLurkin agreed that affordability and accessibility could be keeping national HBCU admission numbers low. For students who have larger out-of-pocket or out-of-state expenses, Noble schools award last-dollar scholarships to help support students throughout their college careers. Most HBCUs are on the country’s south and east coasts, and while many Noble students are accepted, not all of them choose to attend.
“Due to HBCUs primarily being so far away and being more expensive than Illinois choice schools, we’ve had a lot of students who have chosen to go to more affordable schools,” McLurkin said. He added that, because there are no HBCUs in Illinois, students might not be able to visit a college or university before committing to spend several years there.
“Something that I’ve seen in this work is you can’t really be where you can’t see,” McLurkin said. “If you want to go to a Howard, it’s hard for a family to buy into that if you haven’t even stepped on the campus.”
That’s why DRW has started taking students on college visits once a month, prioritizing at least one annual excursion to an HBCU. In May, juniors will attend Central State University, an HBCU in Ohio. McLurkin said two students from Noble schools will graduate from Central this year, along with several from other HBCUs.
While West Siders are succeeding at HBCUs, these colleges and universities could face continued decreasing enrollment if federal funding is redirected from their bank accounts.
Tucker said HBCUs need more streams of funding so they can better support their current students, along with those who are applying to colleges and universities.
“We need to be mindful in sending students to these schools that are having these big issues and how to curtail that impact there,” Tucker said. “Declining enrollment could have a lot more to do with systematic, structural things, as opposed to students in particular.”