FAMU’s enrollment increased between the fiscal years that ended in 2009 and 2011. But FAMU and many other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were hurt by stricter eligibility requirements for the federal PLUS Loan program that went into effect in October of 2011 and Pell Grant changes that began that same year. Those changes resulted in thousands of low-income HBCU students being denied this critical source of financial aid and either having to withdraw from school or delay their entry into college.
The federal financial aid program overhaul led FAMU to lose about 2,000 students from 2011 to 2013. Declining state support and rising fees made the situation even worse for many potential FAMU students.
FAMU fell below a 12,000-student unduplicated headcount while former President Elmira Mangum was in office. She defended the enrollment decline by telling the FAMU Board of Trustees that “Quantity does have to be sacrificed in order to get quality.”
But the enrollment trends at North Carolina A&T University, North Carolina Central University, and Jackson State University showed that Mangum’s claim isn’t true. All three succeeded in growing their enrollments and raising their average freshman GPAs at the same time. Those three universities had enrollment bumps with freshman classes that had 3.0+ average GPAs in 2015-2016.
The final 12-month stats from 2017-2018 will show an increase in students. President Larry Robinson and his administration reversed the six-year drop in students last year. The average GPA for the freshman class that enrolled in Fall 2017 was 3.39.
Robinson has said he wants enrollment to continue to go up to 12,000+ with classes of freshmen that have 3.0+ average GPAs.