HBCU Scholarships: A Priceless Return on Investment

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On a surprisingly cold winter day in December 2025, first-generation college student Kayla Drummond logged into her student account at Clark Atlanta University (CAU). Her account showed an outstanding balance of $9,476. Drummond, who was diagnosed with anxiety disorder in high school, felt she was on the verge of a panic attack. “I had no idea how I was going to be able to stay enrolled and graduate,” Drummond shared over Zoom. “My family and I couldn’t take out another loan.”

While she was visiting her school’s student support team a week later, she logged back into her account. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing: The account had a zero balance. “It said my entire bill was paid off by the Blank Foundation,” Drummond said. “I didn’t apply for the money. It was just placed in my account. It was like a miracle.”

“Kayla’s story reflects a broader reality for students navigating the final stretch of their college experience,” said Margaret Connelly, managing director, Founder Initiatives at the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation (AMBFF). “A small financial gap can be the difference in graduating or not for many of these students. We’re proud to help these students achieve the futures they’ve worked so hard to reach.”

Minding the Gap

AMBFF launched its scholarship initiative in October 2025. The $50M initiative provides scholarships for low-income students at four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in Atlanta: Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Morris Brown College.

The structure of the grant allows each institution maximum flexibility to allocate the resources for increasing student persistence and graduation rates. Rather than setting a uniform standard or hard cap on the amount a student can receive, the four institutions have the freedom to determine award levels based on each student’s specific needs. Students in their junior and senior year are eligible for the scholarship award, because research shows that these are the years when financial gaps tend to be most acute and when families have exhausted all available resources.

Full Circle

Now that Drummond has graduated, she has the ability to accept an offer of admission to CAU’s MBA program in the fall. It’s poetic that Drummond will focus on entrepreneurship, the same career path that enabled Arthur M. Blank to start his family foundation. “I see myself as an entrepreneur. I have very high standards and a clear vision of what I want to create. Others who have vision might not know the steps to get there. But my brain just goes off and I can see this is what needs to be done.”

Drummond’s entrepreneurial vision is to create youth-enrichment centers—one-stop shops where students can get high-quality tutoring in academics, mentorship, and other support for pursuing ambitious goals. “There are so many kids in Baltimore [where she spent her childhood] who don’t have any of these supports,” Drummond said. “They say it takes a village to raise a child. I want these youth-enrichment centers be part a core part of that village.”

Conclusion

Drummond is one of 600 students who have already benefited from the scholarship program. The foundation projects that the initiative will support thousands of students over the next 10 years while encouraging broader investment in student success at HBCUs and other institutions nationwide. The initial results underscore a simple truth: When financial barriers are removed, more students can finish what they started. “Congratulations to the graduates,” Connelly remarked. “We look forward to learning about the amazing things they do next.”