I’m a new SpelmanDad and I’ll share my thoughts thus far….

Daughter was first black female Valedictorian of her 100+ year old PWI HS. Gained admission to USC, Northwestern, Berkeley (my Alma Mater), Howard, and more….Everybody’s kitchen table discussions are unique and the offers range from full rides to nothing.

Of course I have colleagues and even best friends that ask “Why Spelman?”

It’s the most tailored and unique offering I’ve ever seen for a young black lady scholar to be her most goal oriented, driven, and authentic self.

Although I had a wonderful experience at a top PWI I noticed that in those spaces many of us are trying to create are own HBCU. We do BlackStudent Unions, demand more resources for Afro studies, search for connections with Black professors, primarily attend the black Greek functions, and all run to Black Graduation to express ourselves and celebrate our history.

As a parent I marvel at the exposure to Black Excellence, thought leaders, n trailblazers. In my daughter’s first semester she had lectures/forums with VP Kamala Harris, Nikki Giovanni (Renowned Poet), Caroline Wanga (CEO of Essence Magazine), Dr Ruth Simmons (1st Black Woman president of an Ivy League). My daughter even called to tell me that she once walked into a lecture and Indie Arie was sitting there. And she didn’t come to perform but just to listen to the lecture!!!!! Where else all the planet will a young black get these experiences/engagements? In 5 years at Berkeley (yep 5 yrs 📚) I can only recall Jesse Jackson n KRS One 😅

Yes, we elected to shun some full rides to attend Spelman and the reason is the powerful Sisterhood. It’s a huge difference in attending a school to seeing your classmates/alumnae as a sisterhood. The Spelman alumnae is a proud, vast, and well-connected group. I wouldn’t be surprised if my daughter couldn’t go to any major city right now n have a Spelman alumnae pick her up at airport or meet up with another sister in her intended field.

Obviously, I can go on…and co sign that I have never met a Spelman woman that wasn’t smart, poise, confident, n impressive. Just know that Spelman is just not an “apple to apple” comparison because no school bears fruit like them.

I’m not a Spelman alum (I went to a large PWI/state school) but if cost is not an issue, I wouldn’t hesitate to send your DD there OP. I sponsored the intern program at my company for 6 years, and there was just something special about the young ladies we had from Spelman. They were bright, poised, and confident (without being obnoxious or arrogant). I’ve kept in touch with most of them and they have gone on to amazing opportunities post-grad. I hope my own DD considers Spelman when the time comes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m White as all get out and I’m gonna posit that a Spelman or Morehouse grad is going to have an advantage over a generic graduate of, say, Kenyon or Bard. Now an Ivy or something like Duke or Vandy? I’d take those.

I don't think the data supports that.

But the truth does. If I'm looking for a black woman to be in my Wall Street corporate apprenticeship program I'm going to Spelman or Howard, not Kenyon or Bard.

48K/yr all-in at spiel am is still less than the tuition at Sidwell Friends School.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a niche school (HBCU) and hope to get some serious answers before the racists come out, but why is Spelman so expensive? I think my DD would thrive at Spelman but it costs so much money. Why? It's not ranked particularly high, nationally. I understand it's the #1 HBCU but my goodness she could go to higher-ranked PWIs for less. What is driving the cost???

Do we suck it up and pay or save our money and send her to a PWI (the only other HBCU that interested her were Howard (too close to home) and FAMU (we will not pay to send her to FL. She applied without our knowledge and got in).

Because women don’t tend to earn as much money as men, and Black people tend to earn less than white people, so there’s less alumni money to pay for scholarships.

What are you talking about? All private colleges cost this amount regardless of how they are ranked.

This is not true. Spelman has a significantly lower COA (without aid) than top PWIs. Additionally, many lower ranked private colleges have COA in the $60,000s in 2023 even before factoring in FA or scholarships.

Compare Spelman to schools on its level not top PWIs. Spelman is similar to Agnes Scott and Mercer.

In terms of outcomes? No way.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/search/?search=Mercer%20University&page=0&sort=threshold_earnings:desc
Mercer--52k
Spelman--58k
Spelman is better but close. The 5 -10 students per year headed to top grad schools from Spelman don't move the needle much and Mercer has an Emory/Gatech pipeline.

I'm confused. I just looked up Spelman at your site and it says total cost is $29K. Then I went to Spelman's own page - it says $44K all in. Either way, Spelman is a great deal compared to most slacs today

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a niche school (HBCU) and hope to get some serious answers before the racists come out, but why is Spelman so expensive? I think my DD would thrive at Spelman but it costs so much money. Why? It's not ranked particularly high, nationally. I understand it's the #1 HBCU but my goodness she could go to higher-ranked PWIs for less. What is driving the cost???

Do we suck it up and pay or save our money and send her to a PWI (the only other HBCU that interested her were Howard (too close to home) and FAMU (we will not pay to send her to FL. She applied without our knowledge and got in).

Because women don’t tend to earn as much money as men, and Black people tend to earn less than white people, so there’s less alumni money to pay for scholarships.

What are you talking about? All private colleges cost this amount regardless of how they are ranked.

This is not true. Spelman has a significantly lower COA (without aid) than top PWIs. Additionally, many lower ranked private colleges have COA in the $60,000s in 2023 even before factoring in FA or scholarships.

Compare Spelman to schools on its level not top PWIs. Spelman is similar to Agnes Scott and Mercer.

In terms of outcomes? No way.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/search/?search=Mercer%20University&page=0&sort=threshold_earnings:desc
Mercer--52k
Spelman--58k
Spelman is better but close. The 5 -10 students per year headed to top grad schools from Spelman don't move the needle much and Mercer has an Emory/Gatech pipeline.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a niche school (HBCU) and hope to get some serious answers before the racists come out, but why is Spelman so expensive? I think my DD would thrive at Spelman but it costs so much money. Why? It's not ranked particularly high, nationally. I understand it's the #1 HBCU but my goodness she could go to higher-ranked PWIs for less. What is driving the cost???

Do we suck it up and pay or save our money and send her to a PWI (the only other HBCU that interested her were Howard (too close to home) and FAMU (we will not pay to send her to FL. She applied without our knowledge and got in).

Because women don’t tend to earn as much money as men, and Black people tend to earn less than white people, so there’s less alumni money to pay for scholarships.

What are you talking about? All private colleges cost this amount regardless of how they are ranked.

This is not true. Spelman has a significantly lower COA (without aid) than top PWIs. Additionally, many lower ranked private colleges have COA in the $60,000s in 2023 even before factoring in FA or scholarships.

Compare Spelman to schools on its level not top PWIs. Spelman is similar to Agnes Scott and Mercer.

In terms of outcomes? No way.