Find out more about Expanding Opportunites WNY/Southern Ontario

ExOpps WNY/SO

There are 105 historically black colleges and universities across the US. 27 offer doctoral programs and 52 provide graduate degree programs at the Master's level

HBCUs represent just 3% of the US’ institutions of higher learning, they graduate nearly 20% of African Americans who earn undergraduate degrees

Students who have international experience are more likely to learn a second language, more accepting of other cultures, and more comfortable with new and challenging experiences

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines an HBCU as: “…any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary [of Education] to be a reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation.” HBCUs offer all students, regardless of race, an opportunity to develop their skills and talents. (U.S. Department of Education)

THE REAL

“…We have to try. We have to remain determined. We have to persevere. That's what the first founders of HBCUs did. They knew that even if they succeeded, that inequality would persist for a very, very long time. They knew that the barriers in our laws, the barriers in our hearts would not vanish overnight. But they also recognized a larger and distinctly American truth, and that is that the right education might one day allow us to overcome barriers, to let every child fulfill their God-given potential. They recognized, as Frederick Douglass once put it, that education means emancipation. And they recognized that education is how America and its people might fulfill our promise.”

US President Barack Obama at a reception in honor of Historically Black College and University Week, September 13, 2010

Expanding Opportunities is a consortium organized in the support of exposing all students in Western New York and Southern Ontario, Canada to the wide variety of educational opportunities that exist in the world that we feel are often glossed over, at best or, at worst, ignored entirely. The consortium will put particular emphasis on the benefits of pursuing higher education within the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) system in the United States at the undergraduate and graduate level and secondarily international educational opportunities – whether that be studying abroad for a semester or attending an international school as the primary source of higher education.