By Ariyana Griffin
Historical Black Colleges and Universities have experienced an increase in enrollment, due to what most believe is the wake of the Black Lives Matter Movement.”
The past year has been nothing shy of awareness in the black community when it comes to social injustices. After the killing of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, the nation marched in his name to fight for change. The face of the marches had no particular age range, but youth advocates unquestionably picked up the ball. Youth around the country led hundreds of marches and used their social media platforms to express their concerns. One of the main messages included getting an education at an HBCU, a place where one is the majority and not the minority.
Some HBCUs have increased their enrollment rates by more than 10%, including University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff who is experiencing their largest enrollment in about a decade.
High School students like Makur Maker committed in the last year to Howard University over the University of California, Los Angeles. According to Sports Center, “Maker is the highest-ranked prospect to commit to a historically Black college or university since the ESPN recruiting database started in 2007.” Maker expressed that he wanted to create an HBCU movement and encourage other star athletes to attend HBCUs.
While some lack funding, Historically Black Colleges and Universities are finding ways to help out such as reaching out to large donors for grants. They still encourage students to apply, and most students are motivated and excited to have the HBCU experience.
To make applying even easier there is a Common Black College Application where students can apply to over 50 HBCUs for the single price of 20 dollars. A generation is coming that strives to be comfortable and unapologetically black in a classroom, specifically an HBCU classroom.
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