School Name: Central State University
Median Cost of Attendance: $16 470
Undergraduate Population: 2 458
Endowment Needed: $809 665 200
Analysis: Central State University needs approximately $810 million to produce enough annual income to ensure all of its students attend school debt free. The school’s current endowment is $2.1 million or about 0.26% of what would be needed. Marauder nation is one of a small handful of Midwest HBCUs and as such has an opportunity to really dominate their geographical region. Obviously, as one examines one of the hindrances that the school has is a small population especially for a state school. It must look to grow itself especially on the graduate level where research can be leveraged to build the African American economy in Ohio and Midwest to make it a vital cog in region’s overall development. Its only real competition in that arena is Chicago State University the other major Midwest HBCU with a graduate school proponent. Central State University is a rural school however and should continue to focus its efforts there and dominating opportunities through agriculture. In a state so vital to politics especially the “big” one that happens every four years the school would do well to find ways to leverage the attention the state receives during this period as a means of bringing fundraising attention and building political capital beyond its state borders. It will take a much stronger endowment than what it currently operates with, which is will below the median HBCU endowment of $6 million. A school with much promise, notable but underused alumni, and important geography is definitely one to watch in the coming decade.
As always it should be noted that endowments provide a myriad of subsidies to the university for everything from scholarship, faculty & administration salaries, research, and much more.
HBCU Money 