Historically Black colleges and universities saw a nearly 30-percent jump in first-year applicants during the 2022-23 admissions cycle, according to new federal data — a sign that their recent renaissance is continuing.
The 64 HBCUs that had reported data as of this month saw a collective 543,066 applications for the class of 2027, the largest applicant pool in at least a decade. The growth at HBCUs significantly outpaced other higher-education institutions: Over all, college applications were up just 6 percent.
Applications to Grambling State University, in Louisiana, more than doubled to nearly 25,000 candidates for the class of 2027 from just over 10,000 the previous year. And Howard University, alma mater of Vice President Kamala Harris, attracted 30,000 applicants, a 58-percent increase from the prior year’s total of 19,000. Howard typically enrolls between 2,000 and 3,000 first-year students, while Grambling enrolled 916 freshmen in the fall of 2023.
Two small institutions that had striking growth rates included Wilberforce University, in Ohio, and Shaw University, in North Carolina. Wilberforce welcomed only 204 first-year students to its campus last year but received more than 12,000 applications, tripling the previous year’s 4,100. Shaw, meanwhile, had over 10,000 applicants for a first-year class of 186.
The surge preceded the Supreme Court’s July 2023 decision to ban race-conscious admissions, although the decision was widely expected before its release. Higher-ed observers speculated that the admissions ruling could lead more prospective students to choose HBCUs over selective predominantly white colleges — both because they felt the decision sent a message that they weren’t welcome and because they were less confident they’d be accepted.
Increased interest from prospective HBCU students has also brought about higher enrollment in recent years. Nearly 48,000 first-year students arrived to study HBCU campuses last fall, up 5.6 percent from the year prior and 14 percent from 2019. By comparison, first-year enrollment at non-HBCUs grew by only 2 percent last year.
But additional applicants have also brought increased selectivity. The average HBCU admission rate dropped slightly in 2023, from 69 percent to 66 percent, marking the most competitive year for Black colleges since the pandemic. The increased competition for seats has prompted an identity crisis for some HBCUs, which typically see accessibility as part of their mission.
Increased competition has not, however, resulted in an increased yield. The average share of admitted students enrolling at any given HBCU did not increase in 2023. For years, it has hovered around one in five. By comparison, non-HBCUs have seen an average yield rate of around 38 percent — or two in five — since 2020.
Nor have all HBCUs benefited equally from the rush of students. Public HBCUs saw a median growth in total applications of more than 20 percent, compared to only 8 percent at their private counterparts. And larger institutions benefited more than smaller ones: At colleges with 5,000 to 10,000 students, the median increase in applications was 26 percent, compared to 9 percent at smaller institutions.
Robert Mason, founder of the Common Black College Application, attributes the surge in applications to the same cultural and academic factors that have come up for years.
After George Floyd’s murder in the summer of 2020 and the ensuing national protests, there were more “parents wanting their sons and daughters to be in safe spaces,” Mason said. Meanwhile, HBCUs have been getting more attention for their academic prowess: In 2022, the White House released a statement praising the academic offerings of such institutions and noting that 70 percent of Black doctors and 80 percent of Black judges are HBCU graduates.
Mason’s website — which allows students to apply to more than 50 HBCUs through a single portal — has seen what he estimates to be a 20- to 30-percent increase in submissions over the last decade. While the Common Black College Application’s users make up a small fraction of all HBCU applicants, they reflect a larger trend.
“There was once a stigma of sorts attached to HBCUs, where they didn’t provide the quality of education that’s being provided at predominantly white institutions,” Mason said. “That stigma, for all practical purposes, is no longer as prevalent as it once was. … The world now knows [the quality of education] provided at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.”
