Men struggling to finish at black colleges

'Urgency varies'
UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, which represents 39 private HBCUs, said on its Web site the "average graduation rate at HBCU(s) is higher than the average graduation rate for African-Americans at majority institutions" — a claim that is contradicted, both for HBCUs and UNCF members, by the AP's findings.

After inquiries from the AP, the organization removed that statement.

Karl Reid, UNCF's senior vice president of academic programs and strategic initiatives, says the group is working with researchers at Morehouse College, an all-male HBCU in Atlanta, to find ways to help more black college men. It hopes to increase black male enrollment 20 percent at its member schools over the next five years, and to improve overall graduation rates 10 percent.

"There seems to be a groundswell that we've got to get this right," Reid said. "Some schools get it." But he acknowledged, "the urgency varies."

Every HBCU has success stories — students like LeMoyne-Owen senior Jerome Heard. With his good looks, good manners and a dynamite singing voice, it's hard to believe he had a 2.0 high school GPA. If LeMoyne-Owen hadn't taken a chance on him, he says he'd still be working at the Hobby Lobby store back home in Chattanooga.

Here he has a 3.6 and was named "Mr. HBCU" in a national contest that crowns an informal HBCU student "king."

"The teachers here just took me in and saw something in me, and said, 'I think you will be successful,'" he said.

But the harsh reality is many HBCUs don't have the resources to give every student that kind of attention.

Fixed on the experience
Howard and Spelman have endowments valued in the hundreds of millions, but Edward Waters has just $1.6 million. Flagship universities typically get the lion's share of state funding over public HBCUs.

In a perfect world, say experts like Kevin Carey of the think-tank Education Sector, HBCUs would have more resources to spend on the toughest students. But they don't, and "if you don't have the resources to serve students, you're not doing much good."

"Some of these institutions ... have struggled along for some time and have just tried to be available, an option for students, and have focused on the experience," said Marybeth Gasman, a University of Pennsylvania historian of HBCUs. Many do heroic work with students others ignore, she said. But graduation rates below one-quarter won't cut it in an era of tighter accountability.

"You have to keep in mind these students may be taking out loans and going into debt and still not get a degree," she said.

Philander Smith's Kimbrough says neither HBCUs nor any college should admit students if they don't have the resources they need to get them through.

"I think it's immoral to take someone when the indicators suggest this person is not going to graduate, and I don't have anything special for them," he said. "I'm just taking their money."

More from msnbc.com RedTape: DirecTV thrives on ‘deception,’ lawsuit says Doctor's mission to save Ethiopian kids' hearts Bad Santa: Gifts that say you’re old, fat or hairy  What hit Italian prime minister? Take our weekly quiz Send your holiday pictures to troops Send us your memories and images of the past decade

MORE FROM RACE & ETHNICITY

Race & ethnicity Section Front

Blacks urge effort to improve census count Georgetown students say campus satire is racist Police accused of cover-up face abuse suit U.S.-born Hispanics see gains in income theGrio: NYT gift guide is niche, not racist theGrio: 3 new black college football coaches is good start Race & ethnicity Section Front   Add Race & ethnicity headlines to your news reader: