A Statistical Portrait of Publicly Operated Black Colleges and Universities

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Inc., named for the late U.S. Supreme Court justice, was established in 1987. It represents 47 public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) located in 22 states and the United States Virgin Islands.

A new report from the organization offers a valuable picture of the demographics of the students who attend these 47 state-operated universities. Here are some of the highlights of the report:

• There are 233,683 students of all races enrolled at these 47 state-operated universities. Of these, about 34,000 are graduate students.

• About 84 percent of the total undergraduate enrollments at these 47 colleges and universities are African Americans. For graduate students, 74 percent are black.

• In 2007, 24,103 bachelor’s degrees were awarded at these universities, an increase of more than 80 percent since the turn of the century. One in every seven bachelor’s degrees earned by African Americans is awarded by a member institution of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

• In 2007 these 47 institutions of higher learning granted 6,865 master’s degrees, 1,102 professional degrees, and 496 doctoral degrees.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.