Why We Need to Pay Attention to Black Adult Learners
In the United States, there is a large number of Black students who have stopped out of college before earning their degrees (about 2.4 million), with about a million of them having earned 90 or more credits ("near completers"). Of these, about 366,000 are former Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students, with about 175,000 being near completers.
With this issue in mind, The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and historically Black Delaware State University (DSU) have announced the creation of the TMCF-DSU Joint Center for HBCU Non-Traditional Completion, to be housed at DSU. The Joint Center sits on a foundation of evidence gathered from a three-year pilot program for near college completers and adult learners — a program funded by grants from the Kresge Foundation and Ascendium Education Group.
Outcomes from the pilot program will be used to inform ongoing program development and efforts to scale the program to other HBCUs that are seeking to improve their recruitment and support of adult learners who have some college but who have not earned their degrees.
