TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — Tiana Hill is a proud University of South Florida graduate.
"I had a great experience," she recalled.
She's a first-generation college student. Embarking on a new journey was initially scary but worth the fears.
"I did not want my life to remain the same, and there had to be something that would place me on a better trajectory," she said.
A recent study by the Helios Education Foundation shines a light on the possible trajectory for black Floridians with a four-year degree.
They found black Florida students who attended a 4-year college or university between 2004 and 2010 make on average $8,500 more annually. They're also 36.6% more likely to get their degree and remain in Florida by the age of 30.
Two-year college students see a net present value of $50,000 35 years after initial college enrollment. Relative to individuals who do not enroll in college, two-year college students are expected to see an increase in annual average household earnings of $6,492.
“Despite the abundance of research showing the value of attending college, comparatively little is known about the specific individual and state-level implications of improving college attainment among Black students,” said Dr. Paul Perrault, Senior Vice President of Community Impact and Learning for Helios Education Foundation. “This study helps fill that void and provides valuable information on the current return on investment of Black students attending college. Imagine the individual and state benefits if there was a greater commitment to increasing Black student college enrollment in Florida.”
The study used one of the largest and richest student-level datasets in the U.S. to follow Black students throughout the state of Florida from high school to college and through tracking their financial outcomes in 2017. In total, the study examined 96,710 Black students who took the SAT between 2004 and 2010. Approximately 35% of the Black SAT-takers sent an application to at least one HBCU in the U.S., and about 40% of those students initially enrolled at an HBCU.
A study focusing solely on the impact of HBCUs found that there is a 40% increase in the probability of earning a bachelor’s degree when Black students enroll at an HBCU versus those who enroll at predominately white institutions.
Additionally, Florida’s four HBCUs, including Bethune-Cookman University, Edward Waters University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, and Florida Memorial University, graduate more Black students in STEM disciplines than all other Florida universities combined. Furthermore, HBCU enrollment increases the likelihood an individual’s earnings will reside in Florida and surpass the 75th percentile of Black SAT takers by 2.7 percentage points (14%).
"That's also keeping, you know, the best and the brightest in Florida. The worst thing you can happen is, you know, to have students go to other states and go to college because then they're likely to not come back to the state," Perrault added.
Tiana Hill also cited her opportunities on campus with helping her development.
"I have my Bachelors in Social Work and my Masters in Public Administration, and I truly believe that the support programs and scholarship programs that I participated in, like Black Leadership Network and Women in Leadership and Philanthropy, were truly the catalyst for my success in college," she added.
Now Hill is the Business Operations Manager for Toll Operations at the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority.
Her advice to young people:
"I feel like a limitation for students going to school is fear. It could be fear of failure. It could be fear of the unknown. But one thing that I will make sure that I do as a person who has gone into secondary education is to find out, 'Okay, why are you afraid?' And as I have those conversations, I'm stockpiling and making a list of all the alternatives and reasons why you shouldn't be. And just accepting the fact that at least try it, you never know. Try it. Go for it, and I feel like that's what made the difference for me," she said.
The full two-part study is available here.
