When you strolled across Morgan State’s lawn on a Tuesday afternoon a few years ago, the campus seemed crowded but not crowded. Admissions officers discussed growth the way most higher education did at the time, cautiously, keeping one eye on the demographic cliff everyone was constantly warning about. Students moved between buildings with little urgency. The atmosphere has shifted. Enrollment at Morgan State has increased by about 27% since 2018, and the school is publicly aiming for 10,000 students by 2030. There’s a different energy in the air when you walk around campus these days, the kind that indicates something is genuinely working.
It goes beyond Morgan State. In a single cycle, North Carolina A&T, which is already the biggest HBCU in the nation, saw an increase in applications from roughly 30,000 to 42,000. Howard saw an increase of almost 10%. Smaller schools like Norfolk State and Bowie State, which are rarely mentioned in national media, are quietly having their best recruiting seasons ever. Additionally, this is taking place at a time when the majority of American universities are struggling to maintain full classrooms.
The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision on racial admissions is the simple explanation that is frequently reiterated on cable panels. There is a component to that. The statistics from prestigious universities paint a clear picture: MIT lost about half of its Black freshman share, Tufts fell from 7.3% to 4.7%, and Amherst’s Black first-year enrollment fell by about 20 percentage points. Drawing a distinction between those declines and the surge occurring elsewhere is difficult. However, viewing HBCU growth as merely rerouting rejected applicants ignores the reality of the situation.
A more fascinating picture becomes apparent when you listen to the individuals working in the admissions offices. In the same way that college recruiters used to discuss brochures and campus tours, Tanya Clark, who works on HBCU partnerships at 3 Enrollment, discusses TikTok and Instagram. She claims that mobile-first communication is no longer a luxury. Relationship-building, outcome-focused messaging, and a sense of belonging that lasts beyond orientation week are some of the less ostentatious strategies used by the institutions that are witnessing significant improvements. In stark contrast to the national decline in male college enrollment, Jackson State and Alabama A&M have reported record male freshman classes.
Although it isn’t discussed enough, money is also a part of the narrative. After 2020, a surge in charitable contributions coupled with renewed federal focus gave many of these institutions a breathing room to invest in academic support, retention staff, and the unglamorous infrastructure that really keeps students enrolled—something they hadn’t had in decades. There is already a tapering off of some of that funding, which raises a question that no one is willing to publicly address. Is this growth sustainable without it?
It’s tempting to refer to this as a renaissance as it develops, but that term seems too neat. For generations, HBCUs have been performing this work, frequently with very little. What has changed is that more donors, more families, and more students are now simultaneously focusing on them. It’s genuinely unclear if that attention lingers or moves on to whatever the next national conversation is.
However, the numbers continue to move in a single direction for the time being. Applications, persistence, and retention are all increasing. Institutions that were once considered backup options are now, sometimes for the first time, in a position to make decisions.
