Joyner Gets Black Colleges On-line

photo by Donna McWilliam, AP Photo

Tom Joyner Venture Will Help Black Colleges Start Online Programs 

By Goldie Blumenstyk

September 2, 2010 l Chronicle of Higher Education

Tom Joyner, one of the country's most-visible philanthropic supporters of historically black colleges and universities, has founded a company to help those institutions develop distance-education programs—with a particular focus on allowing them to compete against for-profit colleges in enrolling minority students.

Mr. Joyner regularly highlights black colleges on his nationally syndicated radio broadcast,The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and has donated tens of millions of dollars to students of HBCU's through his Tom Joyner Foundation.

For-profit and online colleges attract "incredible numbers of African-American students" said Mr. Joyner's son, Thomas Jr., who stepped down as president of the foundation to become president of the new company, HBCUsOnline. "A lot of those enrollments are his listeners," the younger Mr. Joyner said in an interview on Thursday, and he believes many of those potential students would be better served by HBCU's, which have "a stronger legacy and history."

On its Web site, the company promises to provide an online version of the supportive environment that HBCU's try to foster on their campuses, and it makes some oblique and not-so-oblique references to criticisms that have been raised recently about the costs and recruiting tactics of for-profit colleges. "This program goes beyond simply enrolling you in classes and saddling you with debt, but offers you ongoing support systems from registration to graduation," the site proclaims.

In other sections, the site links to a Frontline documentary, "College Inc.," that criticized for-profit colleges, and warns, "Your investment in your online education is a serious decision. Don't be pressured into the wrong choice."

About 43 percent of the students at for-profit colleges are members of minority groups, and the University of Phoenix now leads all institutions in the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to African-Americans.

For more on this story, go to The Chronicle of Higher Education.com