For the 101 accredited Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States, this moment is particularly portentous. Undergrad enrollment is up 2.5%, compared with a decline of 4.2% for colleges overall – one of the only bright spots noted in the 2022 National Student Clearinghouse. While the pandemic dealt blows to some colleges that have never recovered, HBCUs say they were able to make use of the shared relief to do everything from covering lost wages to forgive their students’ debt.
