Students at some of Atlanta’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are struggling to find affordable and adequate housing as the city faces a surge in rent prices and a shortage of available units. The situation has sparked protests and calls for action from the students, their parents, and the school administrations.
Housing Draft Leaves Many Students Out
One of the main challenges facing students at the Atlanta University Center Consortium, which includes Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University, is the limited capacity of on-campus housing. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Morehouse can only house 1,400 students out of its over 2,000 enrollees. The schools use a housing draft system to allocate beds to students, but many are left out of the lottery and have to look for off-campus alternatives.
However, finding off-campus housing is not easy or cheap in Atlanta, especially in the West End area where the HBCUs are located. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Atlanta is $1,650, which is more than double the cost of on-campus housing at Clark Atlanta ($4,500 per semester) Many students also face challenges with transportation, safety, and access to campus resources when living off-campus.
Rising Demand for HBCUs Exacerbates the Problem
The housing crisis at Atlanta’s HBCUs is not a new phenomenon, but it has been worsened by the increasing demand for these institutions in recent years. According to The Washington Post, interest in top-rated HBCUs has risen nearly 30% or more in recent years, driven by factors such as racial justice movements, social media influence, and celebrity endorsements. Morehouse President David A. Thomas told the Post that he expects applications to double from 6,000 this year to 12,000 in the next three years.
The growing popularity of HBCUs poses a challenge for the schools to accommodate the influx of students without compromising their quality of education and student experience. Some of the schools have plans to expand their housing capacity in the future, but they are still in the early stages of development. For example, Morehouse Dean Kevin Booker said that the college is working on a project that would provide housing for most or all of its students, but it would take a few years to complete.
Students and Parents Demand Solutions
The housing crisis at Atlanta’s HBCUs has sparked protests and demands from the students and their parents. Last fall, Morehouse and Spelman students held demonstrations over their housing concerns and presented a list of demands to their administrations. Some of their demands included giving priority to out-of-state students for on-campus housing, working with local hotels and landlords to provide temporary housing options, and increasing financial aid and scholarships for housing costs.
The students also expressed their frustration with the lack of communication and transparency from their schools regarding the housing situation. They said they felt neglected and unsupported by their administrations and called for more accountability and action.
Meanwhile, some parents have also formed groups to advocate for their children’s housing needs. Davida Morgan Washington, a mother of a Morehouse student and president of the college’s Parent Council, said that they are pushing for the school to collaborate with the city and other stakeholders to create more affordable housing options for students1. She said that building more dorms should be a fundraising priority for the school.
“When you start to think about Clark Atlanta, Morehouse, Spelman, we need to take some of this space and build dorms high up,” she said. “That needs to be a fundraising priority so that we can house all these students that we don’t wanna turn away.”
