HBCU News Spotlight:
- Rising costs at Atlanta HBCUs force students to seek alternative funding like crowdfunding to avoid being dropped from classes.
- Students balance full-time study with limited work, relying on family support and multiple jobs to cover tuition and housing.
- Financial aid dependence is high: most HBCU undergraduates receive aid, many requiring student loans to bridge gaps.
- GoFundMe campaigns provide emotional and financial relief, with students planning to pay forward support after graduating.
Students who attend historically Black colleges and universities in Atlanta are struggling to make the dean’s list and make payments needed to stay in school.
A quick search reveals how much it costs to attend one of Atlanta’s four HBCUs. Tuition costs range from $31,000 at Clark Atlanta University to $56,000 at Morehouse College.
“It’s been fairly hard trying to maintain and also being 19 and focusing on financial things,” Spelman sophomore Journi Robison said.
“Being a full-time student, not being able to work a full-time job right now, it’s been kinda tough,” a Clark Atlanta senior said.
The Education Data Initiative reports the annual cost of college tuition at private institutions is nearly 35 times what it was in the 1960s. That cost increase is being felt especially hard at Atlanta’s HBCUs.
“My mom works about three jobs just to get me to where I need to be because Spelman is fairly expensive,” Robison added.
Robison found out her dreams of a picture-perfect college career were in jeopardy Thursday morning.
“I started off with $17,842 that I had to pay by 5 p.m. I woke up this morning and I got an email saying that at 5 p.m., my classes will be dropped,” Robison said.
Robison and other students are getting creative, coming up with new ways to pay for college, like crowdfunding.
“Now my remaining balance is $142, so I was fairly surprised that there’s a lot of people out there that want to see me succeed,” Robison added.
Data from the National Center for Education Statistics say 90% of all undergraduate students at HBCUs received some type of financial aid in the 2019 school year, including 65% who took out student loans.
“I know a lot of my peers, a lot of my classmates have struggled financially,” Robison said.
But students are finding hope in the struggle to pay for education. Clark Atlanta University senior Marquan Buchanan now sees the light at the end of the tunnel called graduation.
“I’m halfway through that goal right now and I just posted the GoFundMe two days ago. The support is amazing because I feel seen. I feel loved and I know these people believe in me,” Buchanan said.
Both students say they plan to pay it forward once they’re able.
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