Life
New signature phrase for UNCF: “A Mind is a Wonderful Thing to Invest In”
Lomax elaborated, “The national 6-year graduation rate for African Americans is 40 percent. If we could increase that rate by just 7 percentage points, we would graduate close to 16,000 more African Americans with bachelor’s degrees each year.”
Additionally, 94 percent of African American freshman who were awarded loans in 2006 re-enrolled the following year. Nationally, the retention rate was 78 percent for all students.
In addition to scholarships for black students, HBCUs themselves are also valuable. African American students, particularly first generation and low-income students, tend to view HBCUs as a more affordable and more welcoming option for quality higher education. On average, tuition at UNCF member HBCUs is 30 percent less than that of comparable institutions.
And there are more intrinsic draws, Lomax said. “First, high school students say HBCUs feel like home – they feel like family. Second, they believe HBCUs will help them explore themselves as an individual, rather than as a statistic. And finally, at an HBCU, they feel they can learn more about where they come from,” he explained. “This is a powerful set of motivations, but desire and high motivation however, are not the same as scholarship funding.”
Lomax also discussed the preparation level of today’s incoming freshmen, the value and lack thereof of for-profit colleges, and the balance between trade schools and college.
Reps. John Lewis (Democrat Georgia.) and Danny Davis (Democrat-Illinois) were also in attendance at the National Press Club event. Both Congressmen are HBCU alumni, and took the opportunity to speak in support of renewed investment.
“If it had not been for these colleges and universities, I would not be standing here today,” Lewis stated. “Without these colleges and universities, we would not have a modern day Civil Rights Movement. These colleges and universities bring about a non-violent revolution, a revolution of values, a revolution of ideas.”
Source: NNPA
