[1] At one point in history, some of these institutions debated forming a Black Ivy League athletic conference, but did not reach an agreement.
There is no agreement as to which schools are included in the "Black Ivy League", and sources list different possible members.
During the late 20th century, students who attended these schools were able to learn trades and acquire skills and status which put them in a distinctly different social class of black Americans.
[12] Morehouse continues to be the top baccalaureate-origin institutions of black men who earned doctoral degrees.
[19] Similarly, the largest percentage of African-Americans holding graduate and professional degrees, attended these colleges as undergraduates.
As reported by The Washington Post, "Top-tier schools—including Howard, Hampton University, and Spelman and Morehouse colleges—vie with Harvard and Princeton for top black students and faculty.
[24] From 1999 to 2007, Ivy League colleges launched initiatives to make higher education more affordable, to the point that students from low income families can graduate debt-free.
[31] Regarding extension and outreach, many of the HBCUs which are not in the Black Ivy League are land grant universities, founded in response to the Second Morrill Act of 1890.
As a result, those institutions receive annual federal and state appropriations to conduct extension activities, which are not available to the Black Ivy League schools, except for Tuskegee University, which began to receive Cooperative Extension funding in 1972.
However, the Black Ivy League schools have received Part B federal aid under the Higher Education Act of 1965 as HBCUs.