Beyonce's decision to highlight HBCUs has definitely made an impact
College students aren’t necessarily known as early risers, but on Tuesday morning Nia Page, a junior at Spelman College in Atlanta, made sure she was up well before 9 a.m.
The mega-star followed up the performance by announcing a scholarship, called the Homecoming Scholars Award Program, that provided $25,000 to four students at four different HBCUs. The singer reportedly hoped that both her performance and the scholarship would inspire more students to enroll at HBCUs.
“We welcome the opportunity to join in the celebration of the invaluable contributions and distinct culture of historically Black colleges and universities,” Spelman’s president, Mary Schmidt Campbell, said of Tuesday night’s screening. “It’s been a part of now a four-year movement that we’re seeing that has embraced and affirmed HBCUs in a way that hadn’t happened in recent years,” said Walter Kimbrough, the president of Dillard University, a private HBCU in New Orleans. Still, “whenever Beyoncé does something it takes it to another level,” he added.
Changes to Parent PLUS loans hurt enrollment at HBCUs HBCUs have also faced more recent major challenges enrolling students. In 2011, the Obama administration tightened the underwriting standards for Parent PLUS loans — a type of federal student debt that parents can use to help finance their childrens’ education.
Students are looking for colleges “where there are more people who look like them and understand their experience in America,” Bridges said. “HBCUs are a beneficiary of that. Some of the tension in the country is driving students and their families to consider HBCUs more closely again.” The $100,000 in total that Beyoncé donated to these schools is frankly a drop in the bucket compared to some of the multi-million and even billion dollar donations announced by predominantly white institutions on a semi-regular basis.
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