America’s Top HBCUs

Forbes Daily Briefing · Aug 10, 2026 · 7m

Howard University, one of the nation’s top Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), burst into the national news in July when it abruptly canceled enrollment for 500 freshmen, a fifth of the incoming class. The students had ostensibly missed the deadline for establishing they could cover the Washington, D.C. school’s $66,182 total annual cost of attendance. Isabella Williams, who graduated from Russell County High School in Alabama last May with a 4.3 grade point average and a raft of honors and scholarships, received one of those jarring notices. Howard was more than her dream…