Attending a Black College Seems to Lead to Higher Earnings for Black Men, Study Finds

Chronicle.com:

Black men who attended historically black colleges and universities in the late 1970s and early 1980s enjoyed higher lifetime earnings than those who attended other four-year colleges and universities, according to a study released on Thursday by two Virginia Tech researchers. ...

Mr. Mills and Mr. Mykerezi did not find similar results for black women in the same age group as the men studied. Over the long run, women who attended historically black colleges and universities earned about the same amount as those who attended other four-year institutions. The researchers said their study did not explain why that is so. ...

"HBCU's are particularly effective in matriculating black males from relatively poor areas with disadvantaged backgrounds and providing them with the tools to overcome their initial disadvantage in the skilled-labor market. This gateway allows them to eventually earn wages that are statistically no different from those of black men with more advantaged characteristics who attended other four-year institutions." ...

A study released in April by Roland G. Fryer, an assistant professor of economics at Harvard University, and Michael Greenstone, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that the economic benefits associated with attending a historically black college declined from the 1970s to the 1990s, perhaps because traditionally white colleges were doing better than before in educating black students.