School Name: Shaw University
Median Cost of Attendance: $22,258
Undergraduate Population: 2,265
Endowment Needed: $1.1 Billion
Analysis: Shaw University needs approximately $1 billion for all of its undergraduates to attend debt free annually. A media darling among HBCU circles over the past five years as its athletic program grabbed the spotlight in both football and basketball. It culminated with a Division II national championship for the women’s basketball team. Traditionally, athletic achievements have spurred alumni giving but it is still too early to tell if Shaw’s success will translate into significant donations for the Univesity. The school boast a healthy science tradition that if nurturted over the next ten to twenty years could produce significantly high quality donors based on the economy shifting towards a major healthcare boom thanks to the baby boomer generation’s looming retirement. This could provide a significant increase to their endowment over the coming generation. Shaw University has a limited graduate studies program and unless it has plans for expansion in that area it will need to see its undergraduate increase significantly in size. Geographically, the university is located in Raleigh, the heart of North Carolina’s Research Triangle, and lends itself a great opportunity for quality academic and economic recruitment. Raleigh is home to four community colleges and ten four year colleges (including Shaw) so recruitment is fierce. One thing is for sure though if Shaw University continues to find ways into the media spotlight through its balanced approach of bio-academic and athletic achievements it will be an endowment with the potential to make waves in the coming decades.
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 