The latest statistics show that historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) such as FAMU remain critical to closing the racial earning gap in America.
According to the United Negro College Fund, HBCUs make up only 3 percent of American institutions of higher learning, but award about 20 percent of the baccalaureates to go to blacks.
Data compiled by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education shows that a four-year college degree not only increases the earning potential of black Americans but almost completely closes the economic gap between black and white citizens who are equally credentialed.
The U.S. Bureau of the Census reports that blacks gain a vastly different value from a four-year college degree when compared with varying levels of educational achievement.
Blacks with an associate’s degree or two year community college degree improve their incomes by only 41 percent over blacks with only a high school diploma. Yet blacks with a bachelor’s degree, or four-year college degree, improve their incomes by 99.5 percent over that of blacks with high school diplomas alone.
More work is needed, though, in order to increase the number of college-educated black males.
Black women are now earning college degrees at twice the rate of their black male counterparts. In fact, the number of black women earning bachelor’s degrees has increased by 55 percent since the 1970’s compared with an increase of only 20 percent in black males.
The gender gap is even sharper in the areas of law and medicine. In those two fields black women have earned 219 percent more degrees since the 1970’s, while only black men only earned 5 percent more.
According to the United Negro College Fund, HBCUs make up only 3 percent of American institutions of higher learning, but award about 20 percent of the baccalaureates to go to blacks.
Data compiled by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education shows that a four-year college degree not only increases the earning potential of black Americans but almost completely closes the economic gap between black and white citizens who are equally credentialed.
The U.S. Bureau of the Census reports that blacks gain a vastly different value from a four-year college degree when compared with varying levels of educational achievement.
Blacks with an associate’s degree or two year community college degree improve their incomes by only 41 percent over blacks with only a high school diploma. Yet blacks with a bachelor’s degree, or four-year college degree, improve their incomes by 99.5 percent over that of blacks with high school diplomas alone.
More work is needed, though, in order to increase the number of college-educated black males.
Black women are now earning college degrees at twice the rate of their black male counterparts. In fact, the number of black women earning bachelor’s degrees has increased by 55 percent since the 1970’s compared with an increase of only 20 percent in black males.
The gender gap is even sharper in the areas of law and medicine. In those two fields black women have earned 219 percent more degrees since the 1970’s, while only black men only earned 5 percent more.