More Economic Mobility at HBCUs, Report Says

Economic mobility is better for students who attend historically black colleges and universities than those who attend non-HBCUs, according to a new report from the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Researchers used data from the Internal Revenue Service and the National Center for Education Statistics' Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to determine students' economic backgrounds and economic success after college for the report, "Moving Upward and Onward: Income Mobility at Historically Black Colleges and Universities."

The findings indicate that while HBCUs enroll more low-income students than other colleges, nearly 70 percent of HBCU students end up with at least middle-class incomes.

Tuskegee University, Xavier University of Louisiana and Morehouse College are among the best at promoting economic mobility, according to the report.

The researchers recommend that people study the student success strategies at those colleges, among others, to learn more about what works. They also recommend other researchers look at overall life experiences for African Americans after college to learn more about their outcomes, and that they compare the practices of HBCUs to those at primarily white institutions to learn more about how to improve outcomes of African American students.