School Name: Morgan State University
Median Cost of Attendance: $15 095
Undergraduate Population: 6 711
Endowment Needed: $2 026 050 880
Analysis: Morgan State University needs approximately a $2 billion endowment to allow all of its students to attend school debt free annually. Located in Baltimore it shares the city with one other state HBCU. Immense opportunity and challenges exist for Morgan State University. In a city with the seventh largest African American population by numbers the opportunity to grow its population with homegrown talent is immense. High school graduation rates for African Americans have improved dramatically in the city the past year but with fiscal cuts coming from the federal and state governments it remains to be seen if the improvement can be sustainable without strong commitment from the private sector. Home to multiple African American owned banks there is opportunity to secure real sponsorships and circulation between the African American private sector and the university. Prior to the great recession Maryland also boasted the highest median income for African Americans in the nation for states with sizable African American populations. This leaves a bit of head scratching then for a school with its size and income around it to only have a $2 million endowment which is a mere 0.1 percent of the amount needed. While the opportunity is there for Morgan State University to easily become a top five endowment there is obviously a disconnect somewhere. If the riddle can be solved watch for Morgan State to become one of the darlings of HBCU endowments.
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 