College Dollars and Sense

HBCU's were founded to address the needs of low income, first generation college students. However, rising tuition costs, tighter loan restrictions and poor institutional financial aid planning tools are hindering students from matriculating within the HBCU system. Radical solutions such as pre-financial aid debt tracking programs aimed at entering freshman, federal loan modification options, and a pro-active shift of equipping students are needed to adequately address these issues. This chapter will discuss the most prevalent financial aid issues facing HBCU students, as well as present viable debt reduction solutions.

Shared Governance and Collective Bargaining

The mobilization of workers through unionization has deep historical roots within American society, more so in the northern regions than in the southern region of this country. Despite these historical roots, some sectors of the American population (i.e., minorities in general and African Americans in particular) who have experienced various forms of discrimination have not fully participated in the unionization movement. In fact, on some HBCU campuses, faculty have no mechanism to participate in the governance of their own university. With the survival and destiny of HBCUs at stake, HBCU faculty must be proactive and engaged to create their own representative voice. This chapter will examine shared governance and leadership, as well as collective bargaining, as agents for faculty representation and conduits for change. Specifically, the development of faculty voice will be discussed as a form of advocacy for meaningful participation and representation by HBCU faculty in decision-making at their universities.

Debunking The Myth of Dependency

This chapter examines a bi-polar ideological constructs of Western and Non-western modes of education within the Historically Black Colleges and Universities educational system. Western curricula have ‘colonized' Black world educational systems for centuries making it hard to inculcate African ontological and epistemological ideologies in most universities. As a result, the birth of HBCUs was a welcome relief as African Americans and Blacks from Africa, Latin America, Caribbean and Europe found a ‘home' to be ‘historically aware' of their lineage and ancestry. This chapter makes a case through critical literature to argue that sustaining and empowering these Black Colleges and Universities through Western and Non-western educational traditions constitute the barometer for success. This would ensure their long lasting role in higher education in the United States and the world.

Valuing the History, Missions and Traditions of HBCUs

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) serve the educational needs of students of African descent while providing an atmosphere of nurture and guidance enriched in cultural norms. In considering how HBCUs can remain competitive, this chapter recommends that one of the first steps is to return to the basics, reviewing the historical significance, missions and traditions of HBCUs. In doing so, this work investigates the role HBCUs play in student identity and character development by looking at the history, mission and traditions of Morehouse College and Howard University. The authors, who both are alumni of these institutions, respectively, will examine relevant documents and statements from the schools as well as provide auto-ethnographic narratives explicating the impact those institutions had on their academic, social and professional successes.

Establishing a Media Literacy Cognate at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

This study explores the need as well as the feasibility of implementing a media literacy cognate at Historically Black Colleges and Universities nationwide. Of the approximately 40 colleges and universities with media studies or communications departments or schools, only three offer a named media literacy course. Similarly, of the communications and media programs with ACEJMC accreditation, only one, Howard University offers a media literacy course. Using diffusion of information theory to explore the knowledge of and eventual adoption of media literacy courses at HBCUs, the study seeks to provide an introduction to schools about their need to teach media literacy to students across the college and university curriculum.

Social Media and HBCU Admissions

In a time of immense competition by all universities for top students and financial support, HBCUs have a special challenge to move beyond the laurels of tradition and innovatively participate in the modern market of college admissions. This study is a follow-up comparative deductive content analysis of the use of social media by admissions offices of top HBCUs according to U.S. News and World Report. The presence of these institutions' undergraduate admissions offices on popular social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and the usability of these sites have been measured against the principles of two-way communication. The results show diversity in social media use amongst institutions and certain changes and improvements made on each site since the time of the 2013 pilot study. Findings and recommendations provide insight into next steps for HBCUs to remain competitive in the digital age, according to best practices in public relations.

Delineating Challenges and Opportunities for HBCUs

There has been a recent push on a majority of American campuses to become more diverse in all aspects of their everyday life. For this reason, several institutions have to rethink how they approach the subject of diversity. Educational institutions, including historically Black institutions, must bridge socio-economic, racial and other differences if they are to thrive in a higher education environment that is continually becoming more competitive as demographics shift. This chapter illustrates how changing demographics, the benefits of continued diversification, and the value that is continuously being placed on diversity should influence positive change and shape the character and institutional climate of historically Black institutions. The chapter underscores the need for HBCUs to create cultural climates in which all students are recruited, appreciated and valued regardless of their racial or socio-economic backgrounds as a strategy to achieve competitiveness.

HBCUs

Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System (IPEDS) and the NSF Awards Database, this study generates productivity per dollar invested (PDI) by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the creation of scientific research and undergraduate science and engineering scholars. The PDI is comprised of three components 1) faculty development; 2) undergraduate development; and 3) organizational development. The PDI is a metric for how efficient HBCUs and non-HBCUs are at using grant dollars to produce undergraduate science and engineering degrees. There is no statistical difference between the PDI for HBCUs and non-HBCUs. However given the difference in average grant funding, HBCUs produce more undergraduate scientists more efficiently.

Strengthening HBCU Colleges of Education for the Current Climate

Central to any institution of higher education is its ability to successfully recruit and graduate students. The low graduation rates at many HBCUs is perplexing given their historical legacy. To address this woe, these authors suggest that HBCUs now face the conundrum of making themselves relevant for this generation of collegiate students. Adopting a participatory action research design (Marshall & Rossman, 2006), the authors detail their experiences to suggest strategies that will strengthen the overall college. In this chapter, the authors discuss 1) improving faculty productivity; 2) creating an environment that supports faculty success; 3) leveraging national and state accreditation expectations to improve overall program quality; and, 4) moving from an advising to mentoring model. These topics are discussed from the theoretical perspective of a change model.

The Impact of Performance-Based Funding on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

More than half of the states in the U.S. fund public colleges and universities, based in part on those institutions meeting performance metrics. Given increasing political and public interest in accountability for public resources, it is likely more states will adopt incentive-based finance policies for postsecondary education. This chapter explores how performance-based funding has affected HBCUs in six states. It situates this analysis in the political context that foments and sustains interest in this finance mechanism. Through descriptive statistical analysis of HBCU achievement on key performance funding measures and interview responses with HBCU and higher education representatives, this chapter offers a more nuanced and comprehensive analysis of the outcomes of performance funding as it is applied to HBCUs.