Choosing a college is one of the most important decisions Black students will make in their lifetime. ESSENCE partnered with Money Magazine to create a definitive list of the schools that serve us most.
Drawing on the federal data that Money compiles for its annual Best Colleges rankings—including graduation rates, net college costs after financial aid and graduates’ early-career earnings—plus our own criteria for racial climate on each campus, we found that these schools provide Black students with the best combination of the following:
1. REPRESENTATION: African-Americans had to make up at least 5 percent of each college’s student body.
2. AFFORDABILITY: We measured the price students pay after aid is subtracted and factored in the average loan debt they take on.
3. POSTGRAD EARNINGS: We combined Money’s data on graduation rates with a Georgetown University analysis of colleges that produce unusually high-earning graduates, after accounting for the racial, academic and socioeconomic background of their student bodies. The result is a mix of schools for different kinds of students. Some, such as Princeton, have comparatively fewer Black students but extremely generous financial aid and financially successful alumni. Others, such as North Carolina A&T, provide opportunities to many more Black students and have high graduation rates. And in a year marked by #blackoncampus protests, we incorporated the voices of both students and faculty who spoke about their lived experiences at these schools.
Here are the top 50 colleges and universities in the country:
1. Princeton University
2. Harvard University
3. Duke University
4. Cornell University
5. Florida A&M University
6. Spelman College
The Best HBCUs: ESSENCE and Money Rank Top Colleges For Black Students
7. University of Pennsylvania
8. Yale University
9. North Carolina A&T State University
10. University of Maryland, College Park
11. Columbia University
12. Georgia Institute of Technology
13. Georgetown University
14. University of Florida
15. Hampton University
16. Bowie State University
17. Wellesley College
Top 10 Best Colleges: ESSENCE and Money Rank Top Colleges For Black Students
18. Berea College
19. Amherst College
20. Virginia State University
21. Xavier University of Louisiana
22. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
23. Rice University
24. Vanderbilt University
25. Brown University
26. University of Richmond
27. Dartmouth College
29. University of Virginia
30. Davidson College
31. The College of William and Mary
32. Alcorn State University
33. Williams College
34. Trinity Washington University
Famous Graduates from the 50 Best Colleges for African-Americans
35. Jackson State University
36. Johns Hopkins University
37. Elizabeth City State University
38. Prairie View A&M University
39. Pomona College
40. Northwestern University
41. Binghamton University
42. Emory University
43. North Carolina Central University
44. Tennessee State University
45. Towson University
46. Stony Brook University
47. Barnard College
48. Winston-Salem State University
49. Talladega College
50. Rutgers University-Newark
Pick up the May issue of ESSENCE—on newsstands on April 15—for more on The Best 50 Colleges for African-Americans. To see more of Money’s Best Colleges rankings and tools, visit the College Planner site at money.com/colleges
