The summer season is finally here and graduations seem to have drowned everyone’s timelines. One might not have noticed it, but some schools may have dominated the algorithm because of the sheer numbers of graduates they produced.
According to The Ed Advocate, there are five Historically Black Colleges and Universities that have the highest graduation rate and are pushing out the nation’s next Black and brown leaders.
Coming in at No. 5 is New Orleans’ Xavier University of Louisiana. It’s not only the only Catholic HBCU but also has a four-year graduation rate of approximately 40 percent.
In fourth place is Hampton University in the state of Virginia. Founded in 1868, just a few years out of slavery, this school is steeped in legacy and has a graduation rate of about 55 percent.
Morehouse College, the only all men’s HBCU and alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King, Gang Starr’s Guru, Killer Mike, Baba Zumbi from Zion I, Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Spike Lee, has a high four-year graduation rate of approximately 58 percent.
Sean “Puffy” Combs alma mater, Howard University, scooped the No. 2 spot. And while Diddy never graduated from the prestigious school, many others like Nick Cannon, Tracey Lee, Phylicia Rashad and her sister Debbie Allen and so many more have. The support system at the college is strong, which is why it’s no shock the Bisons have a 62 percent graduation rate.
The HBCU with the highest graduation rate is Spelman College, the birthplace of Black Girl Magic, original location for the sitcom “A Different World” and one of the most notable institutions in the world, with a reported graduation rate of 75 percent.
To put this in perspective, The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center said in 2022 their studies revealed 62.3 percent of full-time students at all four-year institutions graduate within six years.
Remarkably, this list closely mirrors US News and World Reports Top HBCUs. Spelman also tops this list , with HU coming in at second place. Third place is Alabama’s Tuskegee and both Morehouse and Xavier, who are on the other list, are in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Hampton makes the list but not the Top 5. The school finds itself in sixth place.