10 Top HBCUs Your High-Schooler Should Be Looking Into

Spelman College Location: Atlanta Tuition: $24,634 Freshman Retention Rate: 88% Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman College is the oldest historically Black college for women in America. Located just five minutes outside of downtown Atlanta, Spelman is part of the Atlanta University Center, the largest consortium of historically Black institutions of higher learning in the world. Freshmen admitted into the college are required to live on campus during their first year. There are more than 60 student organizations, including Greek life, which constitutes the largest group of students on campus. Known as the Jaguars, Spelman is a member of the Great South Athletic Conference in the NCAA Division III, and it hosts seven varsity sports teams. Howard University Location: Washington, D.C. Tuition: $22,683 Freshman Retention Rate: 84% At Howard University, which is in the heart of Washington, D.C., all students complete a university-wide core curriculum. Required courses include English composition and an Afro-American studies course. Students then have more than 80 majors to choose from, including Afro-American Studies, Greek and Music Therapy. Outside of class, Howard students may choose to get involved in one of the school’s many fraternities and sororities, academic and professional organizations, or social clubs, among other student groups. The university has its own stop on the city’s public transportation system, the Metro, and students are also permitted to bring cars to school. Morehouse College Location: Atlanta Tuition: $25,460 Freshman Retention Rate: 83% Morehouse College, one of the nation’s premier historically Black colleges, is an all-male, private institution in Atlanta. It was established in 1867 and has produced three Rhodes scholars. The college's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Collection includes 13,000 items, among them 7,000 handwritten notes and unpublished sermons written by the civil rights leader, who graduated from there in 1948. Morehouse has approximately 2,400 undergraduate students and 100 percent of the tenure-track faculty hold tertiary degrees. Morehouse offers more than 26 academic majors. Hampton University Location: Hampton, Va. Tuition: $20,724 Freshman Retention Rate: 78% Hampton University is a private university situated on an attractive waterfront campus in southeastern Virginia. The college frequently ranks as one of the top colleges in the country for African-American students. The college has a 13-to-1 student -to-faculty ratio, and students come from 49 states and 35 countries. Established in 1868, the university has a rich history: Booker T. Washington was both a student and teacher at Hampton. Fisk University Location: Nashville, Tenn. Tuition: $20,391 Freshman Retention Rate: 77% Fisk is an iconic institution steeped in tradition and history, yet dynamic and contemporary enough to meet the challenges of the 21st century. As a leading private, liberal arts university, Fisk fulfills a crucial role in preparing students to become successful professionals and citizens. Fisk University has a rich legacy of producing scholars and leaders. Among its many luminaries are W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells, John Hope Franklin, the Honorable Timothy Donaldson, Nikki Giovanni, Judith Jamison and Rep. John R. Lewis, to name a few. Tuskegee University Location: Tuskegee, Ala. Tuition: $19,400 Freshman Retention Rate: 68% Tuskegee University is a private university in Tuskegee, Ala., established by Booker T. Washington. The campus has been designated the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, and is the only school in the U.S. to hold the National Historic Landmark distinction. The university is home to more than 3,100 students from the U.S. and 30 foreign countries. Tuskegee is listed among the 2014 Best 378 Colleges and Universities by The Princeton Review, and ranked fifth on the 2014 U.S. News & World Report's list of best historically Black colleges and universities. Xavier University Location: New Orleans Tuition: $20,560 Freshman Retention Rate: 72% Located in New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana was established in 1925 when St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament founded the coeducational secondary school from which it evolved. Xavier is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college with the distinction of being the only historically Black Roman Catholic institution of higher education. A premier university for educating African-American students in the sciences, Xavier is consistently a national leader in placing African-American students into medical school as well as first in awarding African-Americans baccalaureate degrees in the physical sciences, the biological and life sciences, and physics. The College of Pharmacy is one of just two pharmacy schools in Louisiana. XULA ranks among the top three colleges in the nation in graduating African-Americans with doctor of pharmacy degrees. Claflin University Location: Orangeburg, S.C. Tuition:$15,210 Freshman Retention Rate: 70% Claflin University was founded in 1869 and is the oldest historically Black college or university in South Carolina. Claflin provides students with access to exemplary educational opportunities in its undergraduate, graduate and continuing education programs. In addition, Claflin seeks to foster a rich community of students, faculty, staff, and administrators who work to nurture and develop the skills and character needed for engaged citizenship and effective leadership. Dillard University Location: New Orleans Tuition: $16,191 Freshman Retention Rate: 67% Since 1869, Dillard University has been committed to providing students with a quality four-year liberal arts education. Dillard is a fully accredited private, historically Black university. In 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranked Dillard among the nation’s Top 10 HBCUs, based on comprehensive undergraduate studies. Dillard also was awarded a Top 10 Ranking in 2010 for liberal arts schools in the social mobility category by Washington Monthly. The cornerstone of New Orleans’s Gentilly community, the university sits on a beautiful and serene 55-acre campus with signature live oak trees and a mixture of historic buildings and modern facilities. Florida A&M University Location: Tallahassee, Fla. Tuition: In-state: $5,785 (in-state) $17,725 (out-of-state) Freshman Retention Rate: 82% Florida A&M University, located in the hills of Tallahassee, is the only historically Black institution in the state university system of Florida. The school’s mission, when it opened in 1887 until today, is to educate African-Americans, but it accepts students of every race, ethnic origin, and nationality. Although the A&M in the school name stands for Agricultural and Mechanical, the university offers more than 60 bachelor’s degrees in a range of studies, with architecture, journalism, and psychology among the most popular undergraduate majors. Master’s students at Florida A&M can choose from nearly 40 graduate degrees, including law, engineering and education.

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