A new study shows that Historically Black Colleges and Universities contribute $14.8 billion in economic impact. 

The study, titled “HBCUs Make America Strong: The Positive Economic Impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” was published by the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). According to them, public HBCUs account for $9.6 billion of that total economic impact, while private HBCUs account for $5.2 billion.

Henry McKoy, a business professor at NCCU, told the Daily Tar Heel that HBCUs should be invested in both publicly and privately. Public HBCUs are largely funded publicly and McKoy hopes corporations and businesses will begin to invest more in the schools. 

“What it’s trying to show is that HBCUs shouldn’t be undervalued — they should be invested in,” he said.

The combined economic impact is equivalent to a top 200 ranking on the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest corporations.

McKoy said HBCUs have a historical and current importance in America. About 300,000 students attended HBCUs and about 9 percent of black college students were enrolled in HBCUs in 2015, according to the Pew Research Center. 

According to the actual UNCF report, "the estimate includes direct spending by HBCUs on faculty, employees, academic programs and operations, and by students attending the institutions, as well as the follow-on effects of that spending. The presence of an HBCU means a boost to economic activity, on and off—and even well beyond—campus. Stronger growth, stronger communities, more jobs and a more talented workforce."

What's also great is that these figures will open new doors.

As reported by Amsterdam News, Miles College President Dr. George T. French, Jr. says that these figures will allow college officials to approach state and local government officials, when funding for recruitment and other programs are needed.

“It’s the first time that we’ve had a study conducted by such a professional institution to recognize the importance of HBCUs and particularly the impact on our community,” French says. “We’ve talked in general terms, but to quantify this is important so that our partners can understand the value of our institution. It’s a win-win for our region and for government partners who look to partner with us.”

“With this study, we can go to the government and say we need additional money for cutting-edge programs and recruitment,” he said. “We’ve requested and will have a meeting with the city to compare our master plan with what the city is doing. Here we are, this economic engine with a $52 million annual budget and we can help this city with its master planning and their master plan may intersect with what we’re doing.”

McKoy agrees with these sentiments, saying he hopes the recent report could help bring in more investments for HBCUs, which would increase their economic impacts even more.

“A lot of HBCUs are way under-resourced," he said. "And if they’re able to create that kind of impact being under-resourced, if they were able to get adequate investments and resources, imagine the kind of impact they could have then."

Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, an economics professor at WSSU, said the importance of HBCUs goes beyond traditional economic impact. He offers that this study does not fully represent the impact of HBCUs.

“That 14.8 billion — that’s actually underestimated,” he said. “I’m currently working on the economic impact for our university, and we’re showing probably somewhere in the neighborhood of four-to-five hundred million dollars impact. That’s because you have to also consider the fact that many of the individuals who graduate from an HBCU would never have gotten the opportunity to go to college at all if we weren’t here.”

These historic and beloved institutions are important, their economic impact is only the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, these figures bring awareness to why we need these schools, and why they need to be better funded.