Tuition costs remain a hurdle for many HBCU students
The end of this semester at Morehouse College could be a nerve-wracking time for Aaron Fields.
It’s not because of his grades. The sophomore from Snellville has a strong academic record.
But as classes end, it’s only a matter of time before the next bill for his HBCU education comes due. And since his scholarships, federal loans and the stipend he gets as a resident adviser don’t fully cover the roughly $56,000 it costs to attend, Fields must get creative.
“I have to go and put on my charm and charisma and be kind of a nuisance to the financial aid office,” said Fields, a journalism major. “Stop by a couple of days a week, pop in, see if there’s anything they can do to help me, and just pray and hope for the best.”
With U.S. student loan debt sitting at roughly $1.8 trillion, college affordability is top of mind for many parents and students nationally. But the issue of unmet financial need is more pronounced at historically Black colleges and universities, which disproportionately enroll students from low- and moderate-income families, said Sara Partridge, a higher education expert at the Center for American Progress.
HBCU advocates, supporters and educators are meeting in Atlanta over the next few days to spotlight the challenges and opportunities to help students as part of an HBCU AwareFest.
Experts say more money is needed for need-based aid programs and call for increased financial support from philanthropists. Meanwhile, the schools are looking for new ways to raise revenue to offset costs, such as offering more online courses for adult learners.
A 2022 study from the Center for Responsible Lending found HBCU graduates have a debt load 19% higher than peers at non-HBCUs. And 56% of HBCU students were Pell Grant recipients in 2021, compared to the national average of 32%, according to a 2024 report from the Postsecondary National Policy Institute. That overrepresentation of Pell recipients — a federal award reserved for students with significant financial need — “underscores the importance of HBCUs for increasing access to education for lower income students,” the report reads.
Yet despite being historically underfunded, they “outperform non-HBCU institutions in retaining and graduating first-generation, low-income African American students,” according to the United Negro College Fund, which provides financial support to more than three dozen HBCUs, including some in Georgia.
“If we could provide the resources to these institutions who have done so much for so long with so little, they could serve as an accelerant to what they’re able to do within the community,” said Keith Shoates, president of the Student Freedom Initiative, which aims to reduce the wealth gap through education.
Some fear that wealth gap could increase because of legislation signed by President Donald Trump last year. It includes provisions that would change the federal loan system, such as capping Parent PLUS loans at $20,000 annually per student. That could cause difficulties for HBCU students since they are more likely to rely on those loans, Partridge said.
Shoates hopes the inaugural HBCU AwareFest can drum up more resources. Atlanta is a fitting location, considering the city is home to several prominent private HBCUs, including Clark Atlanta University as well as Morehouse, Spelman and Morris Brown colleges. Created by SFI, AwareFest features a concert, panel conversations and a comedy show, all intended to celebrate HBCUs and help address student loan debt.
Shoates was the project manager for billionaire Robert F. Smith’s surprise gift to Morehouse students in 2019, when Smith pledged to pay off all the student loan debt for the entire graduating class. Through AwareFest, Shoates wants to make the case that the student loan debt issue is solvable, and, collectively, small donors can make a big difference. “The philanthropists that can solve this problem are in the mirror,” he said.
In his mind, the key will be growing HBCU endowments. They trail endowments at non-HBCUs by at least 70%, according to the UNCF, which means they have less financial aid to offer students. That puts the schools in a challenging position considering the demographic they often serve.
Graduating and retaining students is a top priority at Morehouse, said Jonathan Jordan, the college’s director of financial aid. Sometimes that means helping them afford tuition. Morehouse gives out $10 million in endowed scholarships every year, plus another $3 million to close the funding gap for students who have exhausted all other options.
While Jordan said the school tries to assist as many students as possible, resources are finite — and there is not always enough to go around.
In a recent social media post, Morehouse senior Marion Benson wrote that he’s frequently had to scramble for money to stay enrolled, and at one point his grandmother “risked her home to sign a loan for me.” His post outlined how, even though he spent six months working full-time to clear his debt, he was still short on funds after a portion of his federal aid fell through unexpectedly.
As the first person in his family to attend college, his post was viewed by thousands. “Not only were people donating to my GoFundMe, they also spread the word to Morehouse and they gave me a scholarship at the last minute,” he said.
EthiopiAset Garvey, a Spelman sophomore, suspects she could have gotten more financial aid from a predominately white institution. So why attend an HBCU? For many students, it’s for their strong reputation of delivering for Black students — and to experience being the majority on campus.
“I probably wouldn’t have felt as safe as a student every day at a PWI,” said Garvey.
Even with the financial struggles, Benson said it’s largely been worth it. A Morehouse study abroad program helped him travel overseas for the first time. He already has four internships under his belt and is working on his fifth. Plus, he likes that the school is committed to community service; since enrolling, he’s put in more than 200 hours as a tutor for Raising Expectations, a local youth mentorship program.
“It doesn’t matter if you have your degree or not,” said Benson. “If you’re not helping others, what’s the whole point of going to that institution?”
One thing that could help the funding gap is more need-based aid, said Jordan Nellums of The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. Gov. Brian Kemp is pushing to fund such a program in Georgia. In the bill’s current form, the aid would only be available for students at public colleges, including HBCUs like Albany State, Fort Valley State and Savannah State universities. While public HBCUs tend to have smaller endowments than privates, they also tend to be cheaper.
Many refer to HBCU student loan debt as a crisis. But the real crisis, Nellums said, is for policymakers. “What is their commitment to investing in these students and institutions?” he said.
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