HBCUs Offering the Best Long-Term ROI

Posted By: Felipe Ruiz Rojas on December 06, 2024

When students calculate the value of a college degree, they look at three things: How much they actually paid for college, how much of their paycheck will go toward loan payments, and how much they’ll have left each month to pay rent and other living expenses. In our ROI calculations, we considered those three things.

Key Insights:

• Lesser-known public HBCUs offer the best long-term ROI — led by Bluefield State, Bowie State, and Morgan State — partially due to their lower overall cost than private HBCUs.

• Despite the higher price tags, well-known HBCUs like Howard, Morehouse, and Spelman lead in Debt-to-Salary ratios five years post-graduation thanks to higher median salaries and manageable median debt.
• One-third of HBCUs now offer fully online degrees, boosting accessibility and showing higher first- and five-year median salaries than schools without online options.

These findings highlight the strong role public HBCUs play in boosting economic mobility for Black students.

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Felipe Ruiz Rojas
Diversity recruite, HBCU CONNECT
Hampton University class of 2014
Member Since March 2022

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