5 NC HBCU’s tell us how the SCOTUS race factor ruling is impacting admissions

Written By Sydney Heighberger

It’s been about nine months since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race could no longer be a factor in college admissions decisions.

Queen City News contacted all five of North Carolina’s public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to see whether the decision impacted the number of students applying to those institutions.

Four schools reported increased applicants over the past year, but most do not attribute that to the Court’s ruling. According to those schools, interest in HBCUs has increased for years.

Here’s how those numbers broke down:

• Elizabeth State University reported that their applications were up eight percent for the 2024 fall semester but up 35 percent the year before.
• Fayetteville State University saw an 18 percent rise in first-year applications.
• North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University reported a three percent increase.
• North Carolina Central University has seen the most significant increase in. They’ve seen 48 percent more applications this year compared to last.
• Winston-Salem State University said the number of first-year applications is actually down three percent this year, but the number of graduate applications has increased 41 percent.

NCCU admission director Michael A. Bailey said he attributes increased marketing efforts and improved accessibility to the influx of applications.

The school joined the Common App program a few years ago and created its own “black common app” portal.

“Because we’re giving students more of an option to apply – making it easy, making it seamless for them to apply – we’re getting an exponentially larger number of applicants at the top of the funnel,” said Bailey.

Bailey also believes a greater interest in diversity and equity initiatives, or “wokeness,” as he called it, has led people to become more aware of HBCUs and their missions.

“That’s who we’ve been in our whole existence,” he said. “Now that the broader scale of diversity and equity, the broader scale of what HBCUs are about, and the quality of education, I think it’s a really good time. HBCUs are hot right now.”

Devon Smith, a spokesperson for Fayetteville State University, said applications there increased 18 percent in 2023 and another 18 percent in 2024.