Chicago Charter School Reportedly Discouraging Students From Applying to HBCUs

One local Chicago mother is calling out Chicago Bulls College Prep for discouraging her son to apply to the Historically Black College/University (HBCU) of his choice.

In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Maiesha Rose says she was disappointed in the response her son got when he told his school he wanted to attend an HBCU.

“I am a graduate of an HBCU, and my son was told that he could not apply to an HBCU until he applied to other schools,” said Rose, who is a City of Chicago employee.

“When I asked why, the initial response was HBCUs don’t give enough money,” she said.

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Chicago Bulls College Prep is a Noble Network Charter School that opened in 2009. Its Chief External Affairs Officer Constance Brewer responded to the incident regarding Rose and her son saying that it is not up to staff members to make judgements based on whether a college is an HBCU, private, public or religious institution. She claims that out of the 572 African American seniors attending Noble schools, 40 percent of them have applied to at least one HBCU.

Students at Noble schools are encouraged to apply to a “match” school — schools that match their GPA and test scores; a “safety” school — one that the student almost has a guaranteed shot of getting in; and a “reach” school — a school that is just above the student’s stat.

In the case of Rose and her son, she says no HBCUs were listed in any of the categories for her son and she had a difficult time getting an official transcript for him when he tried to apply to HBCUs on his own.

After making arrangements for her son to attend Langston University in Oklahoma, her alma mater, he was then accepted to Morehouse College in Atlanta.

“I think it is a bad policy. The students should have the freedom to apply wherever they want to apply if the parents and students make a choice to attend a certain school,” Rose said.