University of Black America | The case of HBCU’s $100 Billion Dollar Opportunity. The Enrollment Debate Rages On.

In this time of instant gratification, faster downloads, unified platforms, live commerce, metaverse, live gatherings, 5G, and digital media; many black college students are scrambling to innovate through these chaotic times. With the advent of economic uncertainty and global upheaval, where does this leave black education? Can a 100 Billion Dollar Unicorn get birthed from an HBCU?

The question may sound like an algebraic equation. Nevertheless, there is no denying that revolutionary ideas defy the mold of convention. The birth of Cheyney University in 1837 was a revolutionary idea. Yet, from that generous donation of land 185 years ago we now have 100+ HBCUs which have created the black upper-middle class, which includes Black Judges, Doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, Politicians, Musicians, Writers, Philanthropist, and Entrepreneurs.

It's not an accident that over 70 percent of Black doctors and dentists have bachelor’s degrees that were conferred from HBCUs. HBCUs as engines of social and upward mobility have struggled with resource deficiencies for the last 185 years. Amid this (2022-2025) window of opportunity, the new narrative of Blacks in Higher Education is to “Drop On In”. ?

Not every aspiring college student will become an entrepreneur and yet it's about the role HBCUs play in fundamentally moving the black community into what I like to call “The New HBCU Aesthetic”.

By creating an entirely new dynamic of what it means to build community. HBCUs will begin rolling out 1-year programs that advance 1st generation students towards Ministry, Trade, Entrepreneurship, Corporate America, politics, Civil Service, and STEM professions eliminating this mundane notion of a 4–8-year time for obtaining a bachelor’s and master’s degree respectively.

In my work as a Researcher, Writer, and CEO of Blkpostr Media; I have discovered that HBCUs have been slept on when it comes to Innovation, Unicorns, Black Swans, and Disruptive Startups. HBCUs must play a greater role as Incubators in this new age of disruption.

When I attended Kentucky State University as a business student, I was hopeful that I could incubate my dreams into a marvelous social enterprise. To my surprise, the culture of Innovation wasn’t present given the fundamental nature of KSU as a liberal arts institution. Since that inflection point, my research has centered around building a new narrative for innovation in the ranks of HBCUs.?

Desmond Wiggan and Aubrey Yeboah. co-founders of tech startup BatteryXchange. Photo courtesy of Desmond Wiggan

There are two tragedies of Higher Education. One is getting in and not having the adequate resources to complete the mission. The other is dropping out before the sophomore year is reached. No matter how much collegiate students believe education is their ticket towards a slice of the Black American Pie; this journey is only part of the process.

Education as the means for developing strong African American communities is the pathway that liberates the black community. Even though this truth can be applied to every black student that enters a PWI or HBCU; it can sometimes be hard to undo the psychological trauma the Westernized Eurocentric ideas have created.

No matter how many college degrees a person receives; it’s super hard to focus on the Liberation of one’s community in lieu of (Personal Growth & Development, Children, Career Aspirations, College debt, Self-knowledge, Racism, Capitalism, Oppression, etc.). W.E.B. Dubois’s theory of “Double Consciousness” starts to come into play.??

Double consciousness is this internal conflict experienced by marginalized groups in an oppressive society. It’s this primitive sensation, this sense of looking at oneself through the eyes of others and measuring one’s life’s work against the backdrop of a prevailing racial lens that looks unresponsive or frozen by the stimulus.

Double consciousness then creates an inability to focus or concentrate on the notion of the community; versus this corporate ladder mentality that helps to influence and recoil one’s sense of communal liberation. Although, The collective images of Lebron James, Denzel Washington, Michael Jordan, and Oprah will not challenge the national ethos of racism significantly; there is a protracted pathway that will lead to cultural liberation, economic solidarity, and upward social mobility.

Yes, the slave trade has played a critical role in disconnecting the black psyche from its original cultural identity; but that hasn’t stopped millions of African Americans from reaching the Black Upper Class.?

Watch: America's Black upper class - Rich, successful, and empowered | Documentary

McKinsey’s research propositions that higher enrollment and retention and graduation rates could translate to an increase in Black worker incomes of $10 billion per year.

What could a 100 Billion Dollar Investment do for 100 HBCUs in the Next 10 years? That’s a 1 Billion dollar Investment ($100 Million on average per year) for each HBCU in existence. The numbers may sound a little farfetched but that wasn’t the case in 1950; when HBCUs were responsible for serving 90 percent of black students in higher education.

The world has turned a new leaf with the advent of COVID-19 and the technological breakthroughs of digital education (MOOC). It’s no longer feasible to recruit African Americans based on Greek Organizations, Parties, Battle of the Bands, Culture, the “The Black Tradition”; and by using famous musicians and celebrities that have attended HBCU’ (i.e., OPRAH WINFREY, CHADWICK BOSEMAN, STEPHEN A. SMITH, SPIKE LEE, TONI MORRISON, etc.)

The focus must center on Community Development. It’s about building the necessary infrastructure to stand up against the prestige of any institution that can boast of its large endowments. If Harvard commits to recruiting 200 African American High School students from Upper Middle-Class America; where are the strategies to offset these predicaments?

If the Ivy league’s plans are likely to attract high-achieving minorities from the middle class and affluent families; I am sure this would include African Americans in the mix. The lure of Ivy Leagues globally is still a strong proposition to defend against.?

Dr. Andre Perry, a Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro, and a scholar-in-residence at American University; draws an important distinction about the relevance of HBCUs. In his 2018 article titled “If black lives matter, so do historically black colleges and universities” he intrinsically added to the narrative of what black college means as a symbol of freedom.?

Dr. Perry’s premise is that HBCUs offer more than an opportunity for black students to get great corporate jobs. It’s about the freeing of a people as a whole.?Outside of producing technological innovations, music moguls, athletes, movie producers, writers, scientists, doctors, lawyers, and judges; HBCUs can also aid in breaking the chains of bondage, racism, discrimination, hopeless & poverty that have beset the black community for the past 400 years.

There are gaps to be filled within HBCUs when it comes to “Black Economic Mobility”. In 2013, when I wrote an article for hbculifestyle.com titled “The Next Great Dorm Room Startup Will Come From An HBCU”;?which was an ode to the type of communal development that could emerge from the culture of black education.

Yes, the STEM fields are of the most notable rank given the research & development, technological breakthrough, new products, medical breakthroughs, and potential cures for diseases currently unknown to the world. But if we cannot enroll more students into HBCUs and graduate those students at a higher percentage; the “The University of Black America” (UBA) which includes all 100+ HBCUs; quail at the opportunities that could emerge from a $100 Billion Dollar Endowment opportunity.

Related: How HBCUs can accelerate Black economic mobility

While we can and should focus on students at HBCUs; let’s not forget about the faculty that makes up these institutions. If Black Lives Matter what about the lives of “Black Faculty”? Where are the research grant dollars for studying the upward mobility of black faculty? I am sure out of the 100+ HBCUs thousands of studies are in the works or have already been published. And yet other Universities are taking interest in the issue of black faculty.?

Most Notably the University of Wisconsin- Madison just awarded Dr. Chaoqun Ni a Grant To Study Faculty Mobility At Historically Black Colleges And Universities (HBCUs). And while I would love to ascertain the study for its cultural relevance; I realize that the topic of “Brain Drain” as an intellectual discussion helps in expanding this fundamental idea of lifting black intellectual capital to greater heights.

It does take time to realize the promise. When the United States declared independence from the British Empire in 1776; which was approved by the Continental Congress and signed by its President, John Hancock, together with representatives from various states; it wasn’t until 60 years later that the nation’s first HBCU came into existence.

On February 25, 1837, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania became the nation’s first Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Since then, many remarkable strides have been made in lifting families out of poverty and into the upper echelons of society. What do the next 100 years hold for Black Education in America? "INCREASING ENROLLMENT"

? Source: HBCU Community Development Corporation

In, Education, Race, and Class: A New Calculus for the 21st Century, the late Dr. Stewart who was once president of the College Board pointed out that African Americans Latin Americans and Asian descent will, along with Native Americans, comprise the new majority in the United States in time to come. We are rushing towards this reality at God Speed and this pandemic has highlighted why it’s important to get the enrollment numbers up across all 100+ Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The recent closing of Black News Channel, a TV news station targeted at the African American populace; should not come as a surprise when you think about it. It was reported that the Black News Channel had an average audience size of fewer than 10,000 viewers, according to data and analytics company Nielsen.

How could this be possible when African-Americans are Leaders in Media Consumption. Nielsen’s It’s In The Bag: Black Consumers’ Path to Purchase report states that African-Americans are voracious consumers of television content, spending more than 50 hours watching live and time-shifted television a week in the first quarter of 2019, over 10 hours more than the total population, according to the research company.

This presents a $100 Billion dollar Media Opportunity and challenge. In my opinion, I feel that investments into our own narratives must come out of Historically Black Colleges & Universities.

When Blacks in Higher Education becomes of the utmost importance to the black community and laymen alike; organizations like the HBCU Community Development Corporation begin to take center stage.?