Guide
How the SWAC list is built
SWAC on this page means the Southwestern Athletic Conference football string. A school is included when that IPEDS field matches. The list is alphabetical. It is not the full set of HBCUs, and it is not a ranking of the programs.
Jackson State, Grambling, Prairie View A&M, and the other rows are here because the football field says so. Howard and Florida A&M are not here. Their football conference in this file is the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
- Schools
- 11
- States
- 6
- Median admit rate
- 79%
- All schools report a rate
- Median earnings
- $38,924
- 10 years after entry
A football conference, and usually an HBCU
The conference string is Southwestern Athletic Conference. That is the whole test. In this file the members are also HBCUs, which you can see from the overlap with the HBCU page. The HBCU flag is not what puts a school on this list. The football string is.
A school could in principle carry this conference string without the HBCU flag, or carry the flag without this conference. The pages stay separate so those cases do not get mixed. Today the overlap is large. The rules are still different.
HBCUs in other football conferences
Howard University and Florida A&M are FCS schools in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. They stay on the HBCU page and on the FCS page. They do not move onto this page because both conferences are historically Black. The string has to match.
An HBCU with no football team is off this page and still on the HBCU page. Tuskegee is a useful reminder that land-grant status, the HBCU flag, and a football conference are three different facts. This page uses only the third.
Two lists, two questions
Open this page for the football members. Open the HBCU page for the historical designation, including campuses with no football team. Open the FCS page when the conference does not matter. The same campus can appear on more than one list.
Enrollment and admission rate describe the colleges. A larger university is not a better SWAC program on the strength of this table. The site does not store championships. It stores the federal roster and the Scorecard figures.
Why MEAC does not have a page
The file also contains the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. This site did not give that string its own category page. Those schools remain on the FCS list and, when the flag applies, on the HBCU list. Absence from the category index is not absence from the data.
SWAC has a page because the roster is a clear football conference readers ask for by name. The method is still the IPEDS string. It is the same method as the Big Sky and Patriot League pages.
Where the schools are
These schools sit in 6 states. The largest groups are Mississippi (3), Alabama (2), Louisiana (2), Texas (2), and Arkansas (1). The rest of the roll is spread across the other states in the table.
Who runs them
By reported control, 10 are public and 1 is private nonprofit. 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 11 schools. A campus can still award other credentials.
How large they are
The largest undergraduate enrollments on this list are Prairie View A & M University in Prairie View, Texas, with 8,877 undergraduates, Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, with 6,844 undergraduates, and Alabama A & M University in Normal, Alabama, with 6,124 undergraduates. Enrollment is the undergraduate figure. It is not a ranking, and it leaves out graduate students.
Admission
11 of 11 schools report an admission rate. The median of those rates is 79%. 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 Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at 35%, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at 41%, and Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana, at 45%. A lower rate is harder entry. It is not a score for the school.
The highest reported admission rates on this list are Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama, at 98%, Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, at 97%, and Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, at 93%.
What they charge
Among 10 public colleges that report an in-state sticker price, the median is $9,293. One private college on this list reports a sticker price. That price is $14,794.
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 11 schools that report earnings, the median of those school-level medians is $38,924. The clock starts at entry, not at graduation. The highest reported medians on this list are Prairie View A & M University in Prairie View, Texas, at $45,411, Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at $43,371, and Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana, at $41,109.
Among 11 schools that report a graduation rate, the median rate is 31%. A blank rate is left out. It is not treated as zero.
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.
4 are also on R2 research universities. 1 is also on liberal arts colleges. All of them are also on HBCU 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.