Every year, the U.S. News & World Report publishes a list of the top historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the nation. U.S. News is highly regarded as a publisher of college news, advice, and authoritative rankings, and they use a strict set of criteria to determine which colleges and universities will make their lists.
To be considered for this list of the top HBCUs in the United States, each school must be currently listed in the U.S. Department of Education’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities registry. The candidates must also be an undergraduate baccalaureate-granting institution that focuses on enrolling first-year, first-time students instead of non-traditional students. In addition to these criteria, the candidates must also be included in U.S. News’ 2020 Best Colleges rankings.
76 HBCUs were eligible to be included in the 2020 Historically Black Colleges and Universities rankings; 76 of the eligible HBCUs were ranked in the list, while the four HBCUs that were unranked in the 2020 Best Colleges rankings were also unranked in the 2020 HBCU rankings. U.S. News uses quantitative measures of academic quality, such as assessments, student retention, graduation rates, and financial resources, as well as the publisher’s nonpartisan view of criteria that mater in education to rank universities in order of desirability. Unlike other U.S. News lists which include a wide range of HBCUs and PWIs, the HBCUs on this list were only compared against each other.
We have compiled a list of the top 25 HBCUs based on these rankings. There have been significant changes from the 2020 list, including:
- Tuskegee University returns to prominence after dropped out of the Top 10 in 2019, TU clawed it’s way back and is ranked #8 for 2020.
- Bowie State University broke into the top 25 HBCU Rankings 2020; moving past Kentucky State and Norfolk State Universities.
- North Carolina A&T State University rose above Xavier, Fisk, and Claflin Universities to the #6 position, and remains the number one ranked public HBCU in the nation.
HBCU Rankings 2020: Here is the list of Top 25 Black Colleges
| RANK | UNIVERSITY | LOCATION | |
|
25
|
Bowie State University
|
Bowie, MD
|
|
|
23
|
Fayetteville State University* |
Fayetteville, NC
|
|
|
23
|
Alcorn State University* |
Lorman, MS
|
|
|
21
|
Virginia State University* | Petersburg, VA | |
|
21
|
Prairie View A&M University*
|
Prairie View, TX
|
|
|
19
|
University of Maryland-Eastern Shore*
|
Princess Anne, MD
|
|
|
19
|
Lincoln University* | Lincoln University, PA | |
|
17
|
Winston-Salem State University* | Winston-Salem, NC | |
| 17 | Jackson State University* | Jackson, MS | |
| 16 | Tougaloo College | Tougaloo, MS | |
| 15 | Morgan State University | Baltimore, MD | |
| 13 | Delaware State University* | Dover, DE | |
|
13
|
Clark Atlanta University* | Atlanta, GA | |
|
11
|
North Carolina Central University* | Durham, NC | |
| 11 | Dillard University* | New Orleans, LA | |
| 9 | Fisk University* | Nashville, TN | |
|
9
|
Claflin University* | Orangeburg, SC | |
|
8
|
Tuskegee University* | Tuskegee, AL | |
|
7
|
Florida A&M University | Tallahassee, FL | |
|
6
|
North Carolina A&T State University | Greensboro, NC | |
|
4
|
Morehouse College* | Atlanta, GA | |
|
4
|
Hampton University*
|
Hampton, VA
|
|
|
3
|
Xavier University of Louisiana | New Orleans, LA | |
|
2
|
Howard University | Washington, DC | |
|
1
|
Spelman College | Atlanta, GA |
*Tied School
For the complete listing of all 76 eligible HBCUs, please visit the U.S. News & World Reports’ Historically Black Schools Rankings page at http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/hbcu
Source: U.S. News & World Report
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