CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some historically Black colleges and universities, such as Johnson C. Smith University, are looking beyond the looming enrollment cliff, finding creative ways to recruit and retain students.
"We have been doing appearances at high school events ... we do JCSU take-over experiences where we go to the high school and take over for a couple of hours," VP of Enrollment Management at Johnson C. Smith Davida Haywood said.
Those couple of hours of a JCSU event were all it took to leave students like Stanley St. Vilus II feeling inspired.
"They came to my high school and I talked to them a lot," St. Vilus said. "It felt like a family when I saw everybody was close-knit and smiling, that's when I knew JCSU is where I wanted to be."
This push to increase attendance comes as data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows six out of 10 HBCUs in North Carolina have seen greater decreases in enrollment than the national average within the past decade.
"Perhaps some of the stats may be stacked against us," Haywood said. "Our schools were trying to rebound, you saw the arrow starting to go up a bit and then we hit COVID and we went down."
Haywood said the pandemic made numbers plummet even lower, as JCSU saw a 7% drop in attendance.
Other HBCUs like Livingstone College were also impacted by the pandemic with enrollment decreasing nearly 25%, one of the largest HBCU enrollment declines in North Carolina.
Haywood said the decline is concerning, but the growth is promising.
"Now that we are on the other side we are starting to see the enrollment rate increase steadily, and we anticipate with intentionality recruiting students," Haywood said.
JCSU is optimistic their work will not only increase admissions but also shape future leaders of color.
Building leaders like Vilus offers a unique community for the next generation.
"If your next counterpart that looks like you is succeeding, you can succeed just like them," Vilus said.
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