Chapter 2: Fueling and Tracking Student Success: Changing the Approach to Student Success for the Future of HBCU Funding

The 2019 College Affordability Act was the most comprehensive proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act in over a decade. In the bill, the House Committee on Education and Labor proposed a number of reforms that would increase institutional accountability for student success. These federal changes follow state level trends to hold campuses accountable for student outcomes such as retention, progression, and completion. Similarly, private foundations increasingly seek to fund and support evidence-based strategies that can be scaled and replicated at other institutions. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), are longstanding pioneers in student access, success, and support, graduating Black students at rates higher than other institutions with high proportions of Black and low-income students. As federal, state, and private funding mechanisms increasingly evolve, we must change how we capture, share, and strengthen approaches to student success at HBCUs.