Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001, The Education Statistics Quarterly: Vol. 6, Issue 3, 2004

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Vol 6, Issue 3, Topic: Postsecondary Education

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001

By: Stephen Provasnik and Linda L. Shafer

This article was originally published as the Summary of the E.D. TAB report of the same name. The universe data are from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS).

Introduction
Data
Selected Findings

Introduction

This report presents a statistical overview of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) from 1976 to 2001. HBCUs are institutions established prior to 1964, whose principal mission is the education of Black Americans.

Although most HBCUs are 4-year institutions in the southern United States, they represent a diverse set of institutions in 19 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands. They are both public and private; single-sex and coeducational; predominantly Black and predominantly White; 2-year and 4-year colleges; research universities, professional schools, community colleges, and small liberal arts colleges.

Three colleges for Blacks were established before 1862. Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was established in the 1830s. Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and Wilberforce College in Ohio were established in the 1850s. In 1862, the first land-grant college provisions, known as the First Morrill Act, were enacted by Congress. By the late 1860s, Morrill Act funds were distributed to the states, with the intention that they would foster educational opportunity for all students, especially newly freed Blacks. Congress passed the Second Morrill Act in 1890, which required states with dual systems of higher education (all-White and non-White) to provide land-grant institutions for both systems. Nineteen land-grant institutions for Blacks were organized and were initially non-degree-granting agricultural, mechanical, and industrial schools. In 1965, Congress introduced its institutional aid program for HBCUs (20 USC 1060). This E.D. TAB report presents tabular data on institution enrollment, degrees conferred, staff and salaries, revenues, expenditures, and student financial aid.

Data

The data used in this report are from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and, prior to 1986, its predecessor survey, the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS). The trend tables draw on HEGIS and IPEDS surveys that collected information concerning enrollment, institutional finances, student financial aid, salaries, tenure and fringe benefits, staff, and degree completions. According to section 490 of the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 (P.L. 102-325), IPEDS is mandatory for any institutions that participate in or are applicants for participation in any federal financial assistance program authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended [20 USC 1094 (a)(17)]. For the spring 2002 data collection, the overall response rate was 98.6 percent for degree-granting institutions (including those eligible for Title IV federal financial aid programs and that grant an associate's or higher degree) and 98.6 percent for non-degree-granting institutions. In addition, other postsecondary institutions that do not participate in Title IV programs are invited to participate. Of the approximately 10,000 postsecondary institutions surveyed in 2002, some 6,696 institutions had Title IV programs and are the basis for comparison in the analysis.

IPEDS is a universe survey with missing data subject to imputation for nonresponse in the enrollment, degree, staff, and finance data. Because IPEDS is a census of the population of Title IV schools, the data presented here are not subject to sampling error. However, they are subject to nonsampling error, the sources of which vary with the survey instrument. A technical appendix is included in the full report that explains the data sources in more detail.

Selected Findings

Enrollment

Total fall enrollment in HBCUs was about 290,000 in 2001 (table 1). For the past 4 decades, women have made up a larger proportion of enrollment in these institutions than men (figure 1); in 2001, women made up 61 percent of enrollment.
In 2001, 90 percent of HBCU students attended 4-year institutions and 10 percent attended 2-year institutions. HBCU students were more likely to attend public institutions than private, not-for-profit institutions (72 vs. 28 percent).
Two percent of all college students were enrolled in HBCUs in 2001. Black enrollment at HBCUs accounted for 13 percent of all Black enrollment (table 1).
In 2001, Blacks constituted 82 percent of all those enrolled in HBCUs and in 1976, they made up 85 percent.

Table 1. Fall enrollment in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), by sex and attendance status of student, and type and control of institution: 2001

Sex of student, and type and control of institution HBCU enrollment Enrollment in HBCUs as a
percentage of all institutions Black HBCU enrollment
as a percentage of all Black enrollment

   Total 289,985 1.8 12.9

Men 112,874 1.6 13.5

Women 177,111 2.0 12.6

Full-time 222,453 2.4 18.4

Part-time 67,532 1.0 5.6

2-year 29,438 0.5 1.8

4-year 260,547 2.7 21.3

Public 210,083 1.7 11.8

   2-year 28,737 0.5 1.8

   4-year 181,346 2.9 23.2

Private 79,902 2.2 16.4

   2-year 701 0.3 1.4

   4-year 79,201 2.3 18.2

NOTE: Black includes African American and excludes Hispanic origin.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2002.

Figure 1. Fall enrollment in historically Black colleges and universities, by total and sex: 1976 to 2001

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1976 through 1985 Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), “Fall Enrollment in Colleges and Universities”; 1986 through 2001 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), “Fall Enrollment Survey” (IPEDS-EF:86–99), Spring 2001 and Spring 2002. (This table was prepared in April 2004.)

Degrees conferred by HBCUs

More bachelor's degrees than other degrees were awarded by HBCUs in 2001–02 (table 2).

Compared with other racial/ethnic groups, Blacks earned the highest proportion of degrees awarded by HBCUs in 2001 at each level-associate's, bachelor's, master's, doctor's, and first-professional degrees. Blacks earned 87 percent of bachelor's degrees.

In 2001, more than one-fifth of all bachelor's degrees awarded to Blacks were from HBCUs (figure 2). Compared with 1976–77, there were proportionately fewer Blacks earning bachelor's degrees at HBCUs in 2001–02 (35 percent vs. 22 percent). (Although the number of bachelor's degrees earned by Blacks at HBCUs increased from 20,800 to 25,100 during this period, the number of Blacks earning degrees at other types of institutions rose more rapidly).

Since 1990–91, 60 percent or more of associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees at HBCUs have been earned by women. At HBCUs since 1994–95, women have earned more than half of the first-professional degrees, and since 1999–2000, women have earned more than half of the doctor's degrees.

Staff and salaries

Of the 14,100 full-time faculty at HBCUs in 2001, 72 percent were members of minority groups. Of full-time faculty, 58 percent were male and 42 percent were female. Blacks constituted 60 percent of the full-time faculty at HBCUs and Whites constituted 27 percent.

In 2001, 54,551 persons were employed at HBCUs, of which 76 percent were Black.

In 2001–02, average salaries of full-time instructional faculty on 9-month contracts at HBCUs were 81 percent of what they were in all institutions. Since 1976-77, the average salaries at HBCUs have been around 80 percent of those at all institutions (ranging from 79 to 84 percent).

Finance

Private, not-for-profit HBCUs in 1996–97 derived 22 percent of their revenue from student tuition and fees; by 2000–01, the proportion had increased to 25 percent.

In 1976–77, current-fund revenue for public HBCUs from tuition and fees was 14 percent; by 2000–01, it had increased to 20 percent.

Educational and general expenditures per full-time-equivalent (FTE) student for public HBCUs increased from $10,100 in 1976–77 to $15,100 in 2000–01 (in constant 2000–01 dollars); expenditures per FTE student for all public institutions increased from $10,800 in 1976-77 to $16,500 in 2000–01 (in constant 2000–01 dollars) (figure 3).

Private, not-for-profit HBCUs spent less per FTE student in instructional expenditures than all private, not-for-profit colleges and universities. In 2000–01, HBCUs averaged $7,732 and all institutions averaged $10,662-a difference of $2,930.

Table 2. Degrees conferred by historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), by degree: 2001–02

Degree Number of degrees HBCU degrees as a percentage of all degrees awarded HBCU degrees to Blacks as a percentage of all degrees to Blacks

Associate's 3,436 0.6 2.8

Bachelor's 28,846 2.2 21.5

Master's 6,338 1.3 11.0

Doctor's 364 0.8 10.7

First-professional 1,427 1.8 17.2

NOTE: Black includes African American and excludes Hispanic origin.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall 2002.

Figure 2. Percentage of degrees earned by Blacks at historically Black colleges and universities as a percentage of all degrees earned by Blacks: 1976–77 to 2001–02

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1976–77 through 1984–85 Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), “Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred”; 1986–87 through 2001–02 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), “Completions Survey” (IPEDS-C:86–87 through 98–99), Fall 2000, Fall 2001, and Fall 2002. (This table was prepared in April 2004.)

Figure 3. Educational and general expenditures per full-time-equivalent student in public historically Black colleges and universities and in all public institutions: 1976–77 to 2000–01

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1976–77 through 1985–86 Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), “Fall Enrollment” and “Financial Statistics of Institutions of Higher Education”; 1986–87 through 2000–01 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), “Fall Enrollment Survey” (IPEDS-EF:87–99) and “Finance Survey” (IPEDS-F:FY88 through FY99), Spring 2001 and Spring 2002. (This table was prepared in April 2004.)

Student financial aid

Full-time, first-time undergraduate students enrolled at HBCUs were slightly more likely to receive financial aid, compared with full-time, first-time students attending all institutions (77 vs. 70 percent) (figure 4). Over 80 percent of students enrolled in private, not-for-profit 4-year schools received financial aid whether or not the school was an HBCU.

The average federal grant amount for students enrolled in private, not-for-profit 4-year HBCUs was $3,200, and the comparable average for all private, not-for-profit 4-year schools was $2,900.

Average institutional grant amounts for HBCU students attending 2- and 4-year public schools were higher than for all 2- and 4-year public school students. The opposite was the case for 2- and 4-year private, not-for-profit schools. The average institutional grant amount was $7,500 for all 4-year private, not-for-profit school students and $4,500 for HBCU students.

Figure 4. Percent of full-time, first-time degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduate students receiving financial aid at all degree-granting institutions and at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), by type and control of institution: 2001

‡ Not applicable.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2002. (This figure was prepared in April 2004.)

Data sources: The NCES Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), various years.
For technical information, see the complete report:
Provasnik, S., and Shafer, L.L. (2004). Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001 (NCES 2004-062).
Author affiliations: S. Provasnik and L.L. Shafer, Education Statistics Services Institute.
For questions about content, contact Tom D. Snyder (tom.snyder@ed.gov).
To obtain the complete report (NCES 2004-062), call the toll-free ED Pubs number (877-433-7827) or visit the NCES Electronic Catalog (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch).