While some Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were formed before the Civil War, most were chartered after the Second Morrill Act of 1890, which said that for every land-grant university a state founded for White students, one must also be founded for Black students.
Today, more than 300,000 students attend HBCUs. And even though these institutions represent only three percent of colleges in the country, they produce 40 percent of Black engineers, 40 percent of Black U.S. Congress members, 50 percent of Black lawyers, and more than 50 percent of Black physicians in the United States.Footnote1
Statistics like these underscore the value of an HBCU education to the very fabric of this nation. However, the rising cost to attain an HBCU education provides another layer of obstacles for students who already have the odds stacked against them.
Robert F. Smith, the donor behind the Morehouse gift of 2019, which reduced the student loan debt of the entire graduating class to $0, founded the Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) in 2021 to address the wealth gap in America through the lens of higher education, identifying HBCUs as the initial benefactor of the organization.
HBCU institutions that partner with the SFI collaborate with the organization to reduce student debt in real time by providing financial aid alternatives, delivering additional services that support student persistence to graduation, and increasing student opportunities for meaningful employment after they graduate.
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