A question posed by an HBCU member:
After seeing the "Great Debaters" movie I read that Wiley College was in financial trouble, as well as several other HBCU's. I looked at several website that would show endowments and there was not a HBCU on the site.
Several years ago when my kids were searching for colleges they all applied to HBCU's as well as other colleges. Their grades were good, they applied early, went to visit the schools, and heard from these schools later than any school applied. None of the HCBU's offered scholarships, or even the competition of earning a scholarship, even athletic scholarships. I checked a little further and found that many of the HBCU's had very small endowments, even though they have been around 75-100 years or more. I wondered why? Are we just takers? We take the HBCU experience, and education and never look back financially? We attend Homecomings, Band Battles, and other social functions, but how are building for the next generation?
I did not attend an HBCU, and neither did my childern, but I have supported The United Negro College Fund with small donations I could afford. In short I am as guilty as those that attended an HBCU in not supporting them. Can a forum be opened to ask why the majority of former student do not give back, or is it a investment and management problem with the funds being given to the schools.
