One year after launch, The Philadelphia Tribune took a look at what eHBCU has built: six HBCUs, more than 100 academic programs, and a growing community of students earning HBCU credentials from wherever they live.
Tribune staff writer Chanel Hill talked with students and leaders across the consortium. Omi Ames-Davis, a Wilmington, Delaware native, found eHBCU on Instagram and is now working toward a dental assistant certification on a schedule that fits her life. Delaware State University’s Kareem McLemore makes the case that eHBCU is an extension of the HBCU experience, not a lesser version of it. Southern University at New Orleans’ Bree Cook describes the cross-campus workgroups behind the scenes and the outreach that took eHBCU to the Essence Festival and the Bayou Classic. And DSU President Tony Allen, who chairs the eHBCU board, lays out where the consortium is headed, including interest from more than 20 universities that want to join.
The piece also puts the work in context. Citing McKinsey & Company, it notes that HBCUs enroll more than twice as many Pell-eligible students as other colleges, and that their graduates are 51 percent more likely to move into a higher income bracket.