School Name: Roxbury Community College
Median Cost of Attendance: $27 059
Undergraduate Population: 2 681
Endowment Needed: $1 450 903 520
Roxbury Community College needs approximately $1.4 billion for all of its students to attend debt free annually. The only HBCU in New England it has the potential to be a truly impactful institution were it not for a number of seemingly social and political obstacles in its way. It is odd that in a city with more four year colleges per capita than anywhere else in the United States that the one college located in a socially controlled African Diaspora community is no more than a two-year institution. The actual endowment of the school was unavailable to obtain but as you can see its endowment needs seem fairly high for a two-year institution. This is in large part because as a two-year with no residence halls the cost of attendance is factored in by adding the tuition and the U.S. median income according to the U.S. Census data. Housing has become a much higher driving cost and if a two-year student is not staying on campus they obviously still have housing needs. With Boston being one of the highest cost of living cities in the nation the median income is the best barometer we could determine in giving an accurate picture of the total cost to have a student fully committed to their studies. Were Roxbury to make the conversion to a four-year institution it would truly have a competitive advantage in growing its endowment by being the only HBCU in the New England region which although not a huge African Diaspora population it would certainly have a monopoly in terms of recruitment. It is also based in an area of the country which has a higher median of income and over the long term this too could work in RCC’s favor. The school had its first capital campaign starting in 2008 but even today it is unclear how long it was suppose to last or if they ever reached their goal. A more engaged RCC with its alumni and with HBCU media outlets would serve it well to get the word out that this is a school with a vital strategic geography that needs to be supported and funded.
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 