Amna: As we enter another
graduation season, historically
black colleges and universities
are working hard
.
Reporter: The crown forum at
Morehouse college in Atlanta is
part lecture series, part pep
rally.
The weekly assembly is a
celebration of an all-male
institution renowned for
producing black leaders known
as "Morehouse men" from spike
Lee too to martin Luther king
Jr.
We visited as the school
recognized its soon-to-be
graduating seniors.
A week before we arrived,
Morehouse honored one senior
with a brand new award.
>> The Dean Darden academic
resilience award is being
presented to Mr Roland bland.
Reporter: Resilience to overcome
all the things that life threw
at him.
>> I got on academic probation
after my first semester.
During that semester, my
grandfather passed away.
When that happened, I decided to
take time off from school and be
there for my family.
I came back smooth sailing and
then covid 19 hits.
Going back to school online, I
don't know if that was for me.
So that was very unmotivating
and I decided to take some more
time off to school.
Reporter: So when you came back,
what were the challenges of kind
of getting yourself focused,
getting yourself in class, doing
the work, doing it on time, not
being distracted?
>> I started to visit the
academic center and took the
time to learn how to study.
When I got here, I had not been
taught the skills on how to
study and how to retain that
knowledge.
Reporter: Bland learned those
skills through a new initiative
at Morehouse, the student
success program.
In partnership with the united
Negro college fund and the
education firm "Insidetrack",
the initiative identifies
students whose GPA falls under a
2.0 and intervenes with
one-on-one academic coaching,
tutoring, and workshops.
>> The fact that they have a
writing center that anybody can
go to, the fact that they have
tutoring sessions that anybody
can attend and the tutoring
sessions are tailored to your
major and your class that you're
taking.
Those are very important.
Reporter: Versions of this pilot
program that started at nine
hbcus have expanded to more than
30 schools, with funding through
2026.
Aimed at helping students like
Roland graduate.
It comes at a time when
enrollment at historically black
colleges and universities is
growing, and more students are
applying.
But the sad reality is that only
38% of students at those schools
end up graduating. Even at an
elite institution like
Morehouse, the rate is only a
little more than half.
So what happens between the time
they come in and six years later
that half or sometimes less than
, half are walking out with a
degree?
>> Life happens.
Reporter: Dr. Mel foster is the
associate provost for student
success at Morehouse, where he
has been teaching for 27 years.
>> There are those guys when
they come to Morehouse, they're
now in a community of excellent
students.
There is competition here.
We don't have to make it happen,
it is going to happen naturally
and sometimes students will
, become more interested in the
social aspect of being at the
college.
Reporter: Another massive
challenge, finances.
>> Our cost of attendance is
roughly $51,000.
The median household income for
African American families is
less than our cost of
attendance.
Reporter: Curtis Clark, Jr. Is
an academic success coach who
hears those and other challenges
from students adapting to
college life, especially
first-generation college
students.
>> They may never have had
someone who looks like them tell
them I believe in you, you can
do this, you are capable.
I expect that you achieve this.
I'm not hoping that you are
going to be successful I will be
, disappointed if you are not
successful.
Reporter: Clark graduated from
Morehouse in 2015.
>> I think about a number of
students who I started with who
I did not finish with, which is
why I am glad we have this
program now.
Because I could I can think of
people, you know, that I would
have liked to have seen be
impacted by this program in my
matriculation at Morehouse.
>> This semester especially, was
really hard.
Reporter: In Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, stillman college
freshman adebola aderibigbe is
away from her home in Nigeria
and finds her coach to be a huge
help.
>> I had a lot to deal with
mentally, and she was always
checking up on me, even on days
where I would just forget about
her.
If she wasn't assigned to me, it
would have been a rough
semester.
Reporter: But even a program
like this can only go so far.
>> It's also dependent on the
students to accept those offers
of assistance, because there's a
limit to what a coach can do.
It's still up to me as a student
to invest in myself and just be
the best that I can be.
Reporter: Another aspect of the
program showing results so far,
re-enrollment.
>> Getting a student back onto
campus is a huge win.
Reporter: Aja Johnson is the
program manager for leadership
initiatives at the united Negro
college fund.
>> We have been able to have up
to 700 students re-enroll in
their institution and get back
on their education journey. And
if you think about it, 700, it
may not be a robust number, but
for some of our institutions,
that's more than their student
body overall.
Each step of the way we are
helping students continue to
stay on their educational
journey and truly help them get
to that graduation stage and
walk across it. [00:11:04][6.4]
-- Walk across it.
Reporter: Roland Moses bland
will do just that this spring.
He says he plans to work
fulltime on the online clothing
company he and a partner
started.
And hopes more of his peers gain
the necessary supports.
>> I felt like I was chosen and
it would be great if more
students could feel like they're
chosen.
♪♪
reporter: Chosen to be Morehouse
men.
I'm hari sreenivasan in Atlanta.
♪♪