Guide
What the HBCU flag means here
An HBCU on this page is a college the College Scorecard flags as a historically Black college or university. The flag is a federal designation tied to history and mission. It is not a measurement of this year's enrollment share, and it is not a ranking.
The table sorts by state, then by name. That lets you scan a state without treating the first row as the best campus. The figures below count only the flagged schools.
- Schools
- 102
- States
- 21
- Median admit rate
- 69%
- 65 report a rate
- Median earnings
- $38,217
- 10 years after entry
The designation, not a percentage
HBCU status comes from the Higher Education Act's historical definition. Howard University is on this list because it carries the flag. Spelman College carries it too, and Spelman also carries the women's-college flag, so it appears on both pages.
A college that serves many Black students does not join this list unless the Scorecard flag is present. The page does not recompute a racial share from a local survey. It trusts the flag the file already publishes.
Nearby flags that are different
Hispanic-serving institutions are a different designation. That one is tied to undergraduate enrollment. A school can be an HBCU and an HSI only if both flags are set. Tribal colleges are a third flag. None of those flags is a substitute for this one.
A predominantly Black campus that is not historically designated stays off. So does a university that partners with an HBCU but does not hold the designation itself. The college profile shows the flags that are actually set.
How to use a long roll
Use the state sort to build a short list in one place. Then open the campuses you are comparing and read net price, debt, and earnings there. The summary columns on this page are a start. They are not the whole record.
Athletics conferences such as the SWAC and the MEAC matter to many of these campuses, but this page is not a conference roster. A school is here because of the HBCU flag, whether or not its team is in one of those conferences.
History is the point of the name
The word historically is doing real work. The designation records a founding mission from a period when Black students were excluded elsewhere. It does not claim that every current student fits one description, and this page does not add that claim.
Treat the list as the set of designated institutions in the Scorecard. It is large enough to include research universities, liberal arts colleges, and smaller campuses. Size and research class show up in the figures below. They are not the entry rule.
Where the schools are
These schools sit in 21 states. The largest groups are Alabama (14), Georgia (10), North Carolina (10), Texas (9), and South Carolina (8). The rest of the roll is spread across the other states in the table.
Who runs them
By reported control, 51 are private nonprofit and 51 are public. A blank control stays out of that split.
Predominant degree is the credential the campus awards most often. On this list it is a bachelor's degree at 84 schools, a certificate at 8 schools, an associate degree at 7 schools, and a graduate degree at 3 schools. A campus can still award other credentials.
How large they are
The largest undergraduate enrollments on this list are St Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas, with 12,914 undergraduates, North Carolina A & T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, with 12,182 undergraduates, Howard University in Washington, District of Columbia, with 10,108 undergraduates, Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, with 9,019 undergraduates, and Prairie View A & M University in Prairie View, Texas, with 8,877 undergraduates. Enrollment is the undergraduate figure. It is not a ranking, and it leaves out graduate students.
3 schools do not report an undergraduate enrollment. Those campuses stay off the size order. A blank is not zero.
1 school is reported as online-only. The others are not marked that way in this file.
Admission
65 of 102 schools report an admission rate. The median of those rates is 69%. Schools with no reported rate stay out of the median. A missing rate is not an open door, and it is not a closed one.
The lowest reported admission rates on this list are Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida, at 21%, Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, at 25%, and Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina, at 34%. A lower rate is harder entry. It is not a score for the school.
The highest reported admission rates on this list are Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville, Kentucky, at 100%, Le Moyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee, at 99%, and University of the Virgin Islands in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, at 99%.
What they charge
Among 50 public colleges that report an in-state sticker price, the median is $7,688. 1 other public colleges on the list do not report one. Among 48 private colleges that report a sticker price, the median is $16,008. 3 other private colleges on the list do not report one.
Sticker price is not net price. Grants, waivers, and a service commitment can move the bill by a wide margin. Open a school for the net-price figures.
Earnings and graduation
Among 95 schools that report earnings, the median of those school-level medians is $38,217. The clock starts at entry, not at graduation. The highest reported medians on this list are Howard University in Washington, District of Columbia, at $63,066, Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, at $59,993, and Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, at $59,159.
Among 98 schools that report a graduation rate, the median rate is 31%. A blank rate is left out. It is not treated as zero.
Athletics in this file
23 report NCAA Division I athletics and 21 play FCS football. A blank athletics field means this file has no division for that campus. It does not prove the campus has no team.
Also on other lists
Some of these schools also meet the rule for another list on this site. The overlap is a second flag or a second classification. It is not a second ranking.
11 are also on R2 research universities. 17 are also on liberal arts colleges.
How these figures work
Admission rate, enrollment, sticker price, earnings, and graduation rate all come from the College Scorecard. Earnings are the median 10 years after a student entered the school. Tuition for a public college is the in-state sticker price. Tuition for a private college is the published sticker price. None of these is net price after aid.
A blank field stays blank. This page does not turn a blank admission rate into an open door, a blank fee into a free application, or a blank earnings figure into zero. The table above is membership under the rule in this guide. Sort order is not a quality ranking.