A Los Angeles woman named Verna Dauterive made history last week when she donated $25 million to her alma mater, the University of Southern California, in the name of her late husband. This is newsworthy not only because of the large sum but because this is the largest gift to an American university from an African American alumnus. Dauterive and her husband met at the school after World War II.
As news spreads of this generous gift from a black woman to a well-known school, it’s hard not to think of the plight of HBCUs, which are struggling to maintain quality despite dwindling funds. Presidents of these institutions are lobbying Congress for money, and some of them are losing accreditation and dealing with falling application rates. This is certainly not to say that Dauterive should have passed over her alma mater in favor of a black school — if I were to give to a school, it would probably be somewhere I or someone in my family had obtained a degree — but it does bring up the question: who is looking out for HBCUs? Where are the millions of dollars from alumni?
According to the Associated Press, efforts (which can be costly) from school administrators have resulted in increased alumni donations, but schools are still in need of major support.
“At some of the larger, predominant institutions, they may have an advancement staff of say 20, 30, 50 people,” said Karen Helton, vice president for institutional advancement [at Wiley College]. “That’s how the Harvards and the Stanfords and the UCLAs generate billions.”
The measures are commonplace at some mainstream institutions. But they represent a major investment at the nation’s more than 100 historically black colleges and universities, where resources often are stretched…
Meanwhile, predominantly white universities are pushing harder to attract high-achieving black students. Often, it’s with the type of scholarships alumni dollars fund.
And as HBCUs struggle to drum up gifts as government funding dwindles, many are also struggling to graduate students — with graduation rates often less than 50 percent.
What do the money issues, the poor graduation rates, and the competition from “mainstream” institutions say about the future of HBCUs? Despite their many, notable positives, will they hold on to their place in the American educational sphere in years to come? There are some — Howard, Hampton, Morehouse, and Spellman, to name a few — that I don’t see going anywhere anytime soon. As for some of the smaller, lesser known schools, time and money will tell.
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What do the issues say? That most HBCUs probably won’t survive.
No enterprise can survive if potential customers see declining value in the product they’re offering. And black students, for the most part, are voting with their feet and their checkbooks.
Some HBCUs need to understand that poor customer service in the form of repeated administration inefficieincies, mistakes, and other forms of incompetence may hurt them in the long run due to reduced donations.
I might get stones thrown at me here, but, what this say about the commitment to the university and the financial situation of the alumni that they are not donating to the schools.
I FSU, a parking space at the stadium for football season cost 10K. Alumni are willing to pay and can afford that.
I agree with lunanoire. I go to an HBCU and many times I said if I ever get any large amount of money, my current school won’t get it because they don’t treat us right. Granted you don’t have all the same resources but sometimes things are just downright disrespectful, from the administration, lack of communication with students, and the list goes on. You can’t expect alumni to give back when when you barely helped them through college. Lets not mention the politics that governs how money is spent at HBCUs.
I agree with lunanoire and A.Loveley. Why give money to a school that doesn’t look so promising. I also think that HBCUs need to stop relying on the fact that they are “HBCUs” and actually try to make the universities attractive in the eyes of all races. “Historically Black” does not mean “black only.”
The problem is that black colleges were created to fill the gap that existed when blacks weren’t allowed to be educated alongside whites. They continue to exist in a world where their original purpose is slowly drifting into irrelevance. When black students were essentially a captive audience, the school didn’t have to compete with other universities the way they do now. New standards are very hard to develop and put into practice, so a lot of schools found themselves both separate and unequal when the walls began to come down. Besides that, the new BAs they mint likely have no advantage over scores of kids from other colleges in a crowded job market. No one is inclined to feel they owe any favors to a school that didn’t do them any favors. Mediocre HBCUs will slowly shrink and fade. The few that will survive were historically good schools no matter how you sliced them.
HBCU alumni
Okay, *M*, are you from Tallahassee? (me too…)
Ike, I’m not sure if this is a common trend around the U.S. but at FAMU, there is an ever increasing amount of non-brown faces… “minority” scholarships, maybe?
I hear about all the administrative problems from my friends that attend (registration, financial aid - the big one! - etc, etc). I think that so many students are just relieved to graduate or get out, that there isn’t as much pride fostered in their alma mater.
I’m saying all of this from 2nd hand knowledge, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
On the same day that 25 million was given to USC some knucklehead got caught for stealing 40K from Bethune-Cookman College. Therein lies the problem.
A lot of HBCU are accepting more diverse students. I read an article a couple of years ago that said that the “H” might start standing for Hispanic.
For survival, these schools will have to do greater outreach. My mom graduated from an HBCU that one white student - the son of a professor. At her last homecoming there were a lot more white students.
Tayo–ya, im in tally. I do not know about minority scholarships to non minority. I have meet two white people who have had them though. But i have hear horror stories from FAMU, I had a friend who applied, she sent all her stuff in, the called her a few weeks telling her application is incomplete. She sends it aging, then they tell her she is not on their records.
I have had one issue with FSU financial aid office. It was a miss communication and the lady that was working with me called my dad in the UK to explain to him what was going on. If thats not great customer service, then i don’t know what is.
Please forgive this long-winded comment…. I am a professor at an HBCU, as well as an alumna of one. When I left my HBCU, I vowed never to donate a penny because of the level of customer service as well as the “attitudes” much of the staff had when I was there. After I spent time a white institutions for my Masters and my doctorate degrees, I realized just how valuable my HBCU experience was (and I am 30 years old, for the record, so I would not say I am completely old school). So, now I donate regularly.
Now that I teach at an HBCU — different from the one I attended, I can see many of the financial problems stem from archaic thinking among administrators, mismanagement of funds, lack of equal funding compared to white universities, socioeconomic status of students even when they get degrees, rolling deadlines, and honestly mistreatment of students and faculty by many staff members.
On the other hand students often come expecting problems from the university, and before their problems can be addressed they create more problems by expecting to be “given” opportunities (not having to earn them); treating staff and faculty as if they are owed something because they chose to come to an HBCU (when many of them would not have been able to go to school anywhere else); turning in applications late; paying their fees late; and suing HBCUs frivolously ( we actually had a student to sue claiming the school owed her money for a scholarship she applied for, and when she did not get it, she sued the school for her time, printing costs and postage for the letters of recommendation!).
All of this being said, the problem has to be approached from a variety of sources, and it starts with us taking a long hard look at whether or not we truly value these institutions; how HBCUS are funded (both privately and publicly); and the quality of opportunities that come about as a result of being affiliated with HBCUs.
OK, I know that was long……