Morgan State University has formed a task force to address the decline in Black male enrollment.
The group will explore the root causes behind the decline in enrollment and retention of Black men in higher education, while developing practical solutions to reverse this trend at Morgan State and potentially at historically Black colleges and universities nationwide, the Baltimore university announced.
Although Morgan State has continued to set record-breaking total enrollment figures, becoming the nation’s third-largest HBCU last fall, its percentage of Black male students decreased from 43% in 2015 to 37% in fall 2024.
“Morgan has long been a leader in providing access and opportunity for Black males seeking higher education,” said David K. Wilson, president of the school. “The ongoing decline in Black male enrollment at HBCUs is a clarion call for action, and we will not stand idly by. This task force will engage in rigorous research to understand the forces at play and develop evidence-based strategies to ensure that more Black men not only enroll at Morgan but thrive and complete their degrees.”
The formation of the task force comes on the heels of 2024 data from the American Institute for Boys & Men, which reported a 25% drop in Black male enrollment at HBCUs from 2010 to 2022, a rate exceeding the 22% decline seen across all U.S. higher education institutions.
Wilson said this issue has become a critical concern for the campus community, and students have shared their concerns with him.
As of September, North Carolina A&T had the highest enrollment of any HBCU in the U.S. with 14,311 students, followed by Howard University with 13,500 students and Morgan State with 10,739.
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