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Which HBCU/PBI State Is Winning At Renewable Energy Production?

Posted on March 18, 2024 by | Leave a comment

It is no secret that the world is moving towards a stronger reliance on renewable energy*, but there is a swath of the country that is moving extremely slow to embrace it. That swath is dominated by HBCU/PBI states who still dominantly prefer a traditional energy mix. The move towards renewable energy though is inevitable. This is both for environmental and economic reasons. To the latter, there is a massive investment and entrepreneurship opportunity available to HBCUpreneurs who want to help grow and cultivate the space in their respective states. American Association of Blacks In Energy (AABE) President Ralph Cleveland shared the following thoughts, “We will not meet the demands of energy transformation and climate change without Black institutions. This partnership reinforces the critical role HBCUs play in shaping the face of energy talent, development, and design. Not only do we need to create pathways to the C-Suite but we also need to activate our rich networks for a more inclusive energy ecosystem.” While we agree HBCUs need to create pathways to the C-Suite, we also believe the easiest and most economically empowering path there is to have HBCUs and HBCUpreneurs be the vanguard in creating renewable energy startups as highlighted in The Green Program’s ”19 Black Leaders on the Forefront of Clean Energy’ article. The power in energy like everything else is ultimately in the ownership.

HBCU Money took data from Yale Climate Connections and drilled down to the states that have HBCUs and PBIs located in them to see how the states where African America and its institutions are and will be impacted by the current energy mix in their state and also to highlight the opportunities that lay ahead as well. “Important note: The map shows electricity production within each state’s borders. Many states and utility companies exchange electricity with other states. So this data may not reflect the energy that is actually consumed — as opposed to generated — within each state.”

Why is nuclear not considered a renewable? National Grid states, “Nuclear fuels, such as the element uranium, are not considered renewable as they are a finite material mined from the ground and can only be found in certain locations.”

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • The average HBCU/PBI state has renewable energy of 12% average and 9% median, respectively.
  • Wind supplies the highest average renewable energy at 5% overall and hydropower supplies the highest median energy at 3% overall.
  • Oklahoma, the overall leader, is also the leader in wind energy with 41% of its energy coming from wind.
  • New York is the hydropower leader among HBCU/PBI states with 23% of its energy mix coming from water.
  • California is the solar power leader among HBCU/PBI states with 19% of its energy mix coming from the sun.
  • Only 6 of the 23 states have a double digit renewable energy source in their energy mix. Oklahoma, California, New York, Texas, Tennessee, Illinois.

OKLAHOMA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 44%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 10th

Coal: 14%

Fossil Gas: 42%

Nuclear: 0%

Hydro: 3%

Wind: 41%

Solar: 0%

CALIFORNIA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 36%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 13th

Coal: 0%

Fossil Gas: 47%

Nuclear: 9%

Hydro: 8%

Wind: 8%

Solar: 19%

NEW YORK

Renewable Electricity Generation: 28%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States 16TH

Coal: 0%

Fossil Gas: 45%

Nuclear: 25%

Hydro: 23%

Wind: 3%

Solar: 1%

TEXAS

Renewable Electricity Generation: 26%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 18th

Coal: 20%

Fossil Gas: 44%

Nuclear: 9%

Hydro: 0%

Wind: 23%

Solar: 3%

MASSACHUSETTS

Renewable Electricity Generation: 15%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 22ND

Coal: 0%

Fossil Gas: 76%

Nuclear: 0%

Hydro: 6%

Wind: 1%

Solar: 8%

TENNESSEE

Renewable Electricity Generation: 15%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 23RD

Coal: 23%

Fossil Gas: 16%

Nuclear: 46%

Hydro: 14%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 0%

NORTH CAROLINA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 13%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 26th

Coal: 16%

Fossil Gas: 37%

Nuclear: 34%

Hydro: 5%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 8%

ILLINOIS

Renewable Electricity Generation: 11%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 28TH

Coal: 23%

Fossil Gas: 11%

Nuclear: 54%

Hydro: 0%

Wind: 11%

Solar: 0%

INDIANA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 10%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 30TH

Coal: 61%

Fossil Gas: 29%

Nuclear: 0%

Hydro: 0%

Wind: 9%

Solar: 1%

ALABAMA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 9%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 32ND   

Coal: 20%

Fossil Gas: 38%

Nuclear: 33%

Hydro: 8%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 0%

MARYLAND

Renewable Electricity Generation: 9%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 33RD  

Coal: 14%

Fossil Gas: 36%

Nuclear: 40%

Hydro: 6%

Wind: 1%

Solar: 2%

MICHIGAN

Renewable Electricity Generation: 8%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 34TH  

Coal: 33%

Fossil Gas: 26%

Nuclear: 30%

Hydro: 1%

Wind: 7%

Solar: 0%

ARKANSAS

Renewable Electricity Generation: 7%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 35TH  

Coal: 36%

Fossil Gas: 34%

Nuclear: 23%

Hydro: 7%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 1%

GEORGIA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 7%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 36TH  

Coal: 16%

Fossil Gas: 47%

Nuclear: 29%

Hydro: 3%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 0%

KENTUCKY

Renewable Electricity Generation: 7%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 37th  

Coal: 72%

Fossil Gas: 21%

Nuclear: 0%

Hydro: 7%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 0%

VIRGINIA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 5%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 39TH  

Coal: 3%

Fossil Gas: 58%

Nuclear: 31%

Hydro: 1%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 4%

SOUTH CAROLINA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 5%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 40th  

Coal: 16%

Fossil Gas: 24%

Nuclear: 56%

Hydro: 3%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 2%

FLORIDA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 4%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 43RD   

Coal: 8%

Fossil Gas: 75%

Nuclear: 12%

Hydro: 0%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 4%

LOUISIANA

Renewable Electricity Generation: 2%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 47TH   

Coal: 11%

Fossil Gas: 57%

Nuclear: 24%

Hydro: 2%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 0%

DELAWARE

Renewable Electricity Generation: 2%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 49TH   

Coal: 8%

Fossil Gas: 88%

Nuclear: 0%

Hydro: 0%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 2%

MISSISSIPPI

Renewable Electricity Generation: 1%

Renewable Rank Among All 50 States: 50TH   

Coal: 8%

Fossil Gas: 73%

Nuclear: 18%

Hydro: 0%

Wind: 0%

Solar: 1%

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HBCU Money’s 2023 Top 10 HBCU Endowments

Posted on February 19, 2024 by | Leave a comment

“Note: These data are based on colleges, universities, affiliated foundations, and related nonprofit organizations that volunteered to participate in NACUBO’s endowment study series.” – NACUBO

With a looming enrollment crisis for all America’s colleges and universities, we are at a time where endowments are not only going to matter more they are going to matter the most. The building of endowments, cutting of some overweight athletic expenses that allow you to invest more, aggressive fundraising efforts, joint investing with other HBCUs, everything should be on the table. This is an arms race for survival. We have been at alert level red for awhile but apparently the sound of the siren has been broken. Now it is fixed and it is blaring. HBCU endowments are a key and integral component to African American wealth building both individually and institutionally. Their importance to African America’s economic survivability, sustainability, and empowerment cannot be overstated enough. That HBCU endowments continue to be that is a matter of conversation about who at HBCUs should be benefitting and prioritized most by our endowments.

HBCU endowment analysis from 2023 will not reflect that Spelman College kicked off 2024 with HBCUs largest ever donation and the first ever nine figure donation with its $100 million donation from Ronda Stryker and William Johnston. We will see how much of the $100 million makes it into Spelman’s actual endowment coffers this time next year, but even without it Spelman leads all HBCUs in NACUBO’s new category of endowment value per full-time equivalent (FTE) student with $197,713 per Spelmanite versus Florida A&M University’s worrisome $6,044 endowment value per full-time equivalent student. This arguably is a more accurate of how healthy a college or university’s endowment is performing to some degree which we covered in ‘Without Hyperactive Alumni, HBCUs Will Bear The Brunt Of The Building Tsunami Of College Closures And The End Of Their Blackness’. Only Spelman College and Meharry Medical College have endowment value per FTE above $100,000. The national average is $174,499 among all college and universities and median is $47,287. HBCUs reporting have an average of $63,861 and median of $19,256.

On the good news from 2023 is Morgan State University and Virginia State University breaking into the $100 million endowment club as only the ninth and tenth HBCUs to do so. It is assumed that Tuskegee University (not reported) based on their FY 2018 Fact Book also has an endowment above $100 million. This means that roughly 10 percent of the remaining HBCUs have endowments above $100 million. Unfortunately, the gap between that group and those below is staggering with there being questions of a larger percentage of HBCUs potentially having no endowment as a possibility. Lastly, unless Spelman comes through with another jaw-dropping donation (it is certainly possible), then at some point in 2024 Howard University’s endowment will cross the $1 billion mark making it the first HBCU to do so.

The PWI-HBCU NACUBO Top 10 Endowment Gap for 2023 stands at $128.7 to $1, which is an increase from 2022’s $127.5 to $1.*

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Top 10 HBCU Endowment Total – $2.2 billion
  • Top 10 PWI Endowment Total – $321.6 billion
  • Number of PWIs Above $2 billion – 74
  • Number of PWIs Above $1 billion – 139
  • Number of HBCUs Above $1 billion – 0
  • Number of HBCUs Above $100 million – 9
  • 688 colleges, universities, and education-related foundations completed NACUBO’s FY23 survey and those institutions hold $839 billion of endowment assets with an average endowment of $1.2 billion and median endowment of $209.1 million.
  • HBCUs comprised 1.4 percent of NACUBO’s reporting institutions and 0.3 percent of the reporting endowment assets.
  • PWI endowments (30) with endowments over $5 billion hold 58 percent of the $839 billion in endowment assets.

All values are in millions ($000)**

1. Howard University – $926,633 (7.4%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – $81,341

2. Spelman College – $474,907 (3.4%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – $197,713

3.  Meharry Medical College – $179,287 (6.0%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – $165,394

4. North Carolina A&T State University  – $164,720 (0.1%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – N/A

5. Florida A&M University – $113,378 (1.7%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – $6,044

6. Morgan State University – $101,037 (12.9%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – N/A

7. Virginia State University – $100,935 (45.1%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – $22,903

8. Norfolk State University – $83,525 (17.4%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – $16,149

9. Fayetteville State University – $31,280 (-2.2%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – $5,479

10. Kentucky State University – $20,238 (6.3%)

Endowment Value Per Full-Time Student – $15,861

*Due to Hampton University and Morehouse College not participating this year significantly altered the Top 10 HBCUs endowment combined total. Therefore, HBCU Money took the editorial liberty of calculating the PWI-HBCU endowment gap based on 2022’s HBCU endowment total of $2.5 billion.

**The change in market value does NOT represent the rate of return for the institution’s investments. Rather, the change in the market value of an endowment from FY21 to FY22 reflects the net impact of:
1) withdrawals to fund institutional operations and capital expenses;
2) the payment of endowment management and investment fees;
3) additions from donor gifts and other contributions; and
4) investment gains or losses.

SOURCE: NACUBO

Take a look at how an endowment works. Not only scholarships to reduce the student debt burden but research, recruiting talented faculty & students, faculty salaries, and a host of other things can be paid for through a strong endowment. It ultimately is the lifeblood of a college or university to ensure its success generation after generation.

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HBCU Money’s 2022 Top 10 HBCU Endowments

Posted on February 21, 2023 by | 11 comments

When the PWIs have a cold, then HBCUs have pneumonia. That common saying in African America is as true today as it has ever been and among HBCU endowments in 2022 it reverberated across the landscape. Of the top ten HBCUs that reported their endowments to NACUBO that only two out of ten showed a positive gain versus three out of ten showing positive gains among PWIs. The caveat there is the top PWI endowments are all operating with a minimum of $15 billion. An amount that ranges from six times the size of all HBCU top ten endowments combined and all the way up to twenty four times the size of the top ten HBCU endowments combined by UTIMCO, the managing entity of the Texas A&M and University of Texas endowments. UTIMCO is actually $10 billion larger than Harvard’s endowment. It poses an interesting lesson that many HBCUs should consider – merging their endowments and/or foundations for economic and capital scale capabilities. Virginia State University and Norfolk State University. Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University. A really aggressive strategy of course would be to have endowments at the conference level, but that will be an article for another time.

2022 was a down year in the markets which inevitably had an outsized negative impact on HBCU endowments who are less likely to be invested in venture capital, private equity, or other alternative investments that hedge against the volatility of the stock markets. HBCU endowments limited capital usually means limited investment options and those options tend to be heavily tied to public equity markets. It also did not help that just a few years removed from George Floyd’s death when HBCUs saw over thirty million dollar plus donations that in 2022, HBCUs only saw a whopping three while their PWI counterparts had fourteen donations over $100 million.

Without HBCUs capturing more than ten percent of the African American students going to college, then this struggle is likely to persist. Simply put, HBCUs need much larger alumni pools to even start to put a dent in the endowment gap long term.

The PWI-HBCU Endowment Gap for 2022 stands at $127.5 to $1, which is an increase from 2021’s $121.7 to $1.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Top 10 HBCU Endowment Total – $2.5 billion
  • Top 10 PWI Endowment Total – $318.8 billion
  • Number of PWIs Above $2 billion – 69
  • Number of PWIs Above $1 billion – 136
  • HBCU Median – $138.0 million (-8.4%)
  • NACUBO Median – $208.7 million (-9.6%)
  • HBCU Average – $217.9 million (-8.7%)
  • NACUBO Average – $1.2 billion (-5.1%)

All values are in millions ($000)*

1. Howard University – $862,784 (7.0%)

2. Spelman College – $459,463 (-13.4%)

3.  Hampton University – $348,849 (-8.2%)

4.  Morehouse College – $186,523 (-9.7%)

5.  Meharry Medical College – $169,169 (-9.5%)

6. North Carolina A&T State University  – $164,541 (4.6%)

7. Florida A&M University – $111,477 (-6.3%)

8. Morgan State University – $89,516 (-8.5%)

9. Norfolk State University – $71,161 (-10.9%)

10. Virginia State University – $69,564 (-7.3%)

OTHERS REPORTING:

*The change in market value does NOT represent the rate of return for the institution’s investments. Rather, the change in the market value of an endowment from FY21 to FY22 reflects the net impact of:
1) withdrawals to fund institutional operations and capital expenses;
2) the payment of endowment management and investment fees;
3) additions from donor gifts and other contributions; and
4) investment gains or losses.

SOURCE: NACUBO

Take a look at how an endowment works. Not only scholarships to reduce the student debt burden but research, recruiting talented faculty & students, faculty salaries, and a host of other things can be paid for through a strong endowment. It ultimately is the lifeblood of a college or university to ensure its success generation after generation.

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Football Not Required: Most Powerful Colleges Who Dominate Financially Without Athletics

Posted on January 25, 2023 by | Leave a comment

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. – Jimmy Dean

There seems to be an acute misconception among many HBCU alumni these days that a college or university simply can not be successful or powerful without football. The craze created by the “success” of Deion Sanders at Jackson State University and the thought of replicating it at Bethune-Cookman University with Ed Reed has sent the athletic debate into a piranha like feeding frenzy. Despite realities that every college with a major football program all spend more on research than they do on athletics, something not true at many football crazed HBCUs is perpetually disturbing. The University of Texas which many hold up as an example of how much money can be made on sports spends approximately $310 million annually on auxiliary enterprises (i.e. athletics), but spends $610 million annually on research. The thirteen institutions that comprise the University of Texas system spend $686.2 million on auxiliary enterprises, but spends $3 billion on research. If the priority is not clear, then it should be. But many will and have argued that they are able to do that because of football (of which there is no data to support the notion). It leads many HBCU alumni to believe that without athletics and football on the Division I level in particular that a college or university can not succeed financially. So we took a look at America’s most powerful colleges who have no football team or Division III football, but are among the nation’s largest endowments and research spenders. Based on the theory held by most HBCU alumnus, none should be financially well off. However, actual correlation between endowments and research expenditures of colleges and universities would say otherwise.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Division III Football)

Endowment: $27.5 billion

National Rank: 6th

Research Expenditures: $949.0 million

National Rank: 29th

Washington University in St. Louis (Division III Football)

Endowment: $13.5 billion

National Rank: 13th

Research Expenditures: $989.2 million

National Rank: 25th

Emory University (No Football)

Endowment: $11 billion

National Rank: 15th

Research Expenditures: $852.9 million

National Rank: 31st

New York University (No Football)

Endowment: $5.6 billion

National Rank: 26

Research Expenditures: $1.1 billion

National Rank: 23rd

Williams College (Division III Football)

Endowment: $4.2 billion

National Rank: 29

Research Expenditures: $4.9 million

National Rank: 417th

Carnegie Mellon University (Division III Football)

Endowment: $4.0 billion

National Rank: 32

Research Expenditures: $402.4 million

National Rank: 70th

California Institute of Technology (No Football)

Endowment: $3.8 billion

National Rank: 36

Research Expenditures: $438.6 million

National Rank: 62nd

Amherst College (Division III Football)

Endowment: $3.8 billion

National Rank: 37

Research Expenditures: $213.8 million

National Rank: 115th

Wellesley College (No Football)

Endowment: $3.2 billion

National Rank: 43

Research Expenditures: $6.3 million

National Rank: 387th

University of Rochester (Division III Football)

Endowment: $3.2 billion

National Rank: 44

Research Expenditures: $409.3 million

National Rank: 67th

Again, these ten institutions either have no football or play football on the Division III level, which is the lowest of the NCAA levels. Yet, all ten institutions constitute a presence among America’s Top 50 college and university endowments. Each institution by itself has an endowment larger than all HBCUs combined. It is safe to say that their lack of emphasis on athletics has provided the use of those funds for investment in building their infrastructure of research and entrepreneurship. The Kaufmann Foundation in 2016 highlighted just how impactful MIT’s focus on research and entrepreneurship has been. At the time of the report Kaufmann found that, “MIT alumni have launched 30,200 active companies, employing roughly 4.6 million people, and generating roughly $1.9 trillion in annual revenues. That revenue total falls between the world’s ninth-largest GDP, Russia ($2.097 trillion), and the 10th-largest, India ($1.877 trillion), according to 2013 data on those and other countries from the International Monetary Fund.” Those revenues in 2016 are greater than African America’s buying power ($1.6 trillion) today. The number of those employed by MIT alumni companies alone would be equivalent to over 20 percent of African America’s labor force.

The reality that all of these ten schools have larger endowments than all HBCUs combined and four of them have larger research budgets than all HBCUs combined, but also that all ten of them spend less than HBCUs do on athletics combined is telling. Because athletics is what we see the most it is the thing that we equate with the most power and fortune, when in reality it is often what you do not see that is actually the most powerful and provides wealth. There is a stark difference between rich and wealthy and there are no wealthy athletes either individually or institutionally. Our continued use of limited resources chasing low hanging fruit that we think is high is a detriment to our long-term sustainability. With colleges and universities in far better financial condition than many HBCUs closing down there is an overdue reckoning coming to higher education institutions and those who do not have their financial houses not just in order but are focused on the fundamental building blocks that are necessary for an institution to remain relevant and add value to society is acute. Whether we like it or not, athletics is a luxury and an entertainment, and for institutions with the limitations in resources that we have it is potentially one of the most reckless uses of those limited resources. These schools are models of what is possible of success and power when institutions of higher learning – imagine that – focus on the development of a people’s mind. Minds that can solve problems, create intellectual property, form companies, and more to the benefit of the HBCU ecosystem far longer than a body can and at much greater impact.

Source(s): NACUBO, NSF

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2022 African American High School Graduation Rate by HBCU/PBI States

Posted on November 10, 2022 by | Leave a comment

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. – Benjamin Franklin

Only one HBCU/PBI state has an African American high school graduation rate above 90 percent (Maryland) and only one has a high school graduation rate below 80 percent (Mississippi). The U.S. high school graduation rate is 90.04 percent, while the African American high school graduation rate is 87 percent. There are 23 HBCU/PBI states and only five have an African American high school graduation rate above the African American national average and only one is above the overall national average.

This does not even begin to address the extreme direness that is African American male graduation rate which among the most recent reports by the Schott Foundation shows the African American male high school graduation rate at 59 percent, lowest among all groups in the U.S. Unfortunately, that data is from 2015 so where exactly it stands in the current is hard to know. Any assumption that is has improved greatly or that males have moved out of last place can be quickly dowsed with the gender gap review of colleges and universities and HBCUs in particular. The result is that on campuses like Howard University there are almost 75 percent women and just barely above 25 percent men.

Making the future for forming African American families and equitable partnerships that much more complicated. An argument that African American communities hyper focus Black boys on sports from an early age and Black girls on academics certainly must be part of the conversation. The educational achievement spectrum shows an immense gender gap across all levels of educational obtainment. Further complicating this dynamic is in employment African American women have almost one million more jobs than men. There is no other group where the women outnumber the men in terms of employment. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Did low education lead to low employment or vice versa?

What is for certain is that the future of HBCUs lie in more investment in early childhood through 12th grade education. A conversation of how HBCUs, their alumni, and other organizations can invest in a more coordinated and strategic way to impact the pipeline of African Americans that will ultimately matriculate to college is vitally necessary. If HBCUs could show themselves at the vanguard of that movement, then perhaps HBCUs would see an increase in the market share of African Americans who go to college choosing HBCUs. As it stands, while the populations at HBCUs are increasing, the percentage of African American students who go to college choosing HBCUs remains at around 9 to 10 percent.

Maryland – 90.23%

California – 89..78%

Texas – 89.77%

Delaware – 89.27%

Oklahoma – 89.09%

Georgia – 86.67%

Illinois – 86.52%

Missouri – 86.37%

Pennsylvania – 86.35%

Kentucky – 86.21%

Michigan – 86.14%

Tennessee – 85.99%

Virginia – 85.95%

Ohio – 85.86%

North Carolina – 85.56%

Massachusetts – 85.55%

New York – 83.82%

Arkansas – 83.64%

Alabama – 83.22%

Florida – 83.21%

South Carolina – 82.49%

Louisiana – 80.06%

Mississippi – 79.71%

Source: World Population Review

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