Hampered by a global pandemic, a nearly year-long hiatus from in-person business, and economic uncertainty, cumulative attendance for the historically Black college and university sector dropped for the third consecutive year.
According to federal data, HBCU enrollment fell to 279,157 students in Fall 2020, down from its 289,507 figure of 2019 — a number that is the second-lowest enrollment total for HBCUs since enrolling 275,690 students in 2000.
Black student enrollment at HBCUs fell to 211,774 students, a decline of more than 800 students between the 100 federally-recognized HBCUs nationwide from the previous year.
After reaching a record-breaking 326,614 students in 2010, HBCU enrollment dropped for six consecutive years beginning in 2011, reaching a 15-year low of 292,082 students in 2016.
Attrition numbers slowed annually beginning in 2014, as decreases dwindled to just over 1,000 students per year after losing an average of 9,000 students from the nation’s two-year and four-year Black college campuses between 2012 and 2014.
Total HBCU Enrollment
2010 — 326,614
2011 — 323,648
2012 — 312,438
2013 — 303,167
2014 — 294,316
2015 — 293,388
2016 — 292,083
2017 — 298,138
2018 — 291,767
2019 — 289,507
2020 — 279,157
More than 2.3 million African Americans enrolled in college during the Fall 2020 semester according to U.S. Department of Education data, with HBCUs accounting for more than 11 percent of the nation’s total Black student college enrollment. The statistics mirror a National Student Clearinghouse report showing that colleges and universities cumulatively lost more than 2.5% of enrollment in 2020, nearly doubling the figure from 2019.
