Black Colleges Invest Covid Funds in Scrapping Student Balances

Historically Black colleges and universities are using an influx of Covid relief cash to forgive student balances while recovering from the pandemic.

At least 20 HBCUs have cleared student account balances for the majority of the 2020-2021 academic school year after seeing a 5% drop in enrollment during the pandemic, straining systems already facing historic financial crunches. Administrators said the moves are essential to aid students through the pandemic because graduates of historically Black colleges typically carry more student loans than those who graduate from predominantly White schools.

“We’re aware that the number one reason students don’t return to ...