The UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is launching a new initiative designed to help students who left college before graduating to re-enroll in a network of nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs) across the country.
UNCF has joined forces with student success nonprofit InsideTrack. Together, they will provide personalized success coaching to thousands of former HBCU and PBI students nationwide. Former students will be successfully guided through the college re-enrollment process. While resuming their studies, the UNCF will support students to develop a plan to complete their degrees successfully.
“The work that HBCUs do daily is essential to building a more inclusive and equitable system of higher education in this country. HBCUs are not only cornerstones of educational access and attainment, but fixtures of the Black experience in America, whose students develop meaningful and lifelong connections to the institutions they attend,” said Dr. Michael Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF.
“This initiative will empower returning HBCU students with high-impact resources and support to manage personal, financial and academic challenges of student life to the triumphant achievement of earning a degree.”
The program will support 4,000 returning HBCU and PBI students. Participants will receive up to four months of one-on-one coaching to help them complete their academic studies. Students will learn to set goals, build skills to balance work, family, financial and educational commitments, and develop individual plans to help make graduation a reality.
InsideTrack coaches will share frontline insights with participating institutions to increase their understanding of the re-enrollment experience. It will also produce monthly analytics reports gathering insights on the most frequent barriers students face during re-enrollment.
“HBCUs have always been an essential thread in the fabric of higher education access and developmental resources for communities of color. The institutions are invaluable in unlocking the multigenerational benefits of college completion for hundreds of thousands of students each year,” said Ruth White, president of InsideTrack.
“True to their history and values, UNCF is taking a forward-thinking and inclusive approach to help build the sector’s capacity for student support—and strengthen the promise of degree completion for a new generation of HBCU students.”
