Low enrollment and financial problems jeopardizing the future of HBCUs

For generations, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have played a key role in educating young African Americans.

But facing steep declines in enrollment, HBCUs are struggling to survive. In the last 20 years, five such institutions have shut down and about a dozen have dealt with accreditation issues.

South Carolina State University, that state’s only public HBCU, had its accreditation placed on probation last month after the institution was cited for financial problems.

HBCUs once were the only option for most African American students, who made up almost 100 percent of their enrollment in 1950. That began to change in the 1960s, as many doors that once were shut to African Americans were opened. Now that black students have a much wider choice of schools, only 11 percent of African American college students choose an HBCU.

Read more: The Clarion-Ledger