歡迎收聽《思維轉換力量》播客，這是一個面向青少年及其相關成年人的節目，我們將在這裡進行坦誠而直接的對話。我是主持人法蒂瑪貝，思維轉換專家。歡迎大家！今天我們邀請到的是珍妮佛萊德威克，她來自德州休士頓。

She is the owner of Scholar Ready. She helps prepare students for college, and she is a financial adviser. And, we've had her around here before. But today, we're specifically talking about a very niche topic, which is we're specifically talking about HBCUs. And even if you're not interested in an HBCU, you're gonna learn something from this conversation.

I promise you. So stay tuned. How are you today, Jennifer? I am well, Fatima. How are you?

I'm good. I can't wait to have this conversation because it's chock oh, it's gonna be chock full of information. So to explain to the audience, what is an HBCU? Alright. An HBCU is a historically black college or university, and these are institutions of higher learning that can be found primarily in the South.

However, you will encounter HBCUs in Delaware, which depending on how you think about it, Delaware can kind of be considered the South and Ohio. And these schools were created many of them were created in the aftermath of the civil war. One of the first things that people who had been freed from enslavement, from chattel slavery in America, One of those things that those enslaved Africans wanted to do after freedom is, of course, they wanted to find their family members who were pulled from them as a result of the realities of slavery. And they also wanted to be they wanted to become educated. And these colleges started very humbly.

它們通常由宗教派別創辦，起源於小地方，通常是我們唯一能接受教育的地方。現在美國有幾所歷史悠久的黑人學院和大學。 HBCU，雖然指的是歷史悠久的黑人學院或大學，但這些學校實際上對所有種族的人開放。好的。就其專業而言。

So for those with a concentration on on people of color because of of history. Mhmm. And, for those of you listening, now you know what HBCU stands for because that's an acronym we're going to continue to use throughout the episode, and you'll hear it in other areas, in other places, and you'll know exactly what it means. So tell us, what are the advantages of going to an HBCU? Alright.

就讀黑人學院的優勢。所以我們考慮上大學。我們想知道為什麼要上大學。對很多人來說，上大學的首要原因是能夠找到工作，發展自己的事業。雖然黑人學院只佔所有高等教育的3%，但40%的黑人工程師畢業於黑人學院。

50%的黑人教師畢業於黑人學院。什麼？我之前不知道。沒錯。而且，80%的黑人法官畢業於傳統黑人學院和大學。

Okay. You gotta stop talking for a moment. I gotta process that. What? Okay.

80% of black judges come to the speech. I that's wow. Yeah. And it and, you know, it makes sense because I had jury duty, and I'm here in Harris County in Houston, Texas. And I was in jury duty, and I looked up the credentials of the judge.

I looked up the credentials of one of the prosecuting attorneys because they were both they're both black men. Mhmm. And both of them had graduated from historically black college historically black law school, Thurgood Marshall Law School at Texas at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. You know what? I have I have a friend now that you're saying it, I have a friend who is a, professor of electrical engineering at a pretty prestigious, technical college, and she graduated from an HBCU.

And wow. Wow. I'm just still I'm just still processing that. That's Mhmm. That's a re that's definitely a positive.

I'm sorry. Go ahead. And and so it's a positive. So the the professional trajectory is there for that student who wants to hop on it. Why do you think that is?

I think it goes to another advantage of going to an HBCU and its support. Yes. It's it's I I was listening to a podcast by doctor, with doctor Ruth Simmons one day. And doctor Ruth Simmons most recently was served as president of Prairie View A and M University, which is a historically black college or university. But she actually used to be the president, I believe, Brown University or another, you know, an Ivy League college, a predominantly white institution.

And she spoke about how historically black colleges and universities are there to really nurture and support that student to help all the students to become successful. And that's a difference whereas at other college you know other colleges, students may have to take biology, calculus, chemistry and those classes are considered weed out courses at at at your at other universities. But at a historical black college or university, it those wouldn't be considered weed out courses because your perspective for a second and explain what a weed out course is for those of you who don't know what it means. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Mhmm. A weed thank you. A weed out course is a class that a student might take as a freshman or a sophomore, and it is a class that leads to a particular path. For example, chemistry leads to premedical studies.

Calculus leads to engineering. Calculus can lead to business. It leads to these paths. Those classes lead to certain paths. Okay.

And you when students start college, you have many students who begin college with the idea of pursuing medicine, engineering, or business, or even, you know, computer science with those those introductory classes for computer science can be read out courses as well. And what happens is the classes are so hard and the students are struggling to pass the exam or pass the classes and if they when they fail the classes, then they are weeded out of that particular course of study or that particular career trajectory. So when you start talking about forty percent of all black engineers are coming from HBCUs when they have to take a calculus one class or a calculus two class at an HBCU, that's probably not gonna be a weed out course because those professors there are going to provide support systems for the students to do well. Or if you think about at Xavier University, Xavier University in New Orleans is renowned for the number of African American undergraduates it sends to medical school. And they have so instead of so when you think about pre med, what what do people need in order to pursue that track, to do well on the MCAT, which is the entrance exam into medical school?

They need organic chemistry. They need chemistry. They need really good reading comprehension skills. And what Xavier does is Xavier has a program set up to help those students who may have some gaps in their learning from k through 12. Xavier, instead of saying, oh, well, you know, you oh, you can't pass chemistry, you can't pass biology.

Okay. Well, you go do something else. Instead of them saying that, they say, hey. We have this whole support network. We have a program to see you be successful.

And that's aside from the so that community, that nurturing, that care, that's another aspect that is a positive of an HBCU, and it's probably linked to the career success of of of of of of these African American professionals. Absolutely. And I think that the sense of community in any topic, not just college, has a large part a large part to do with the success of anything. You know, when you look at go to Chinatown, any country, any city, because there's Chinatowns in a lot of places in the world. One of the reasons why Chinatowns are successful, they get into every everywhere they go, Chinese get into business.

That's just a fact. But there's always a sense of community that they have that helps to make them strong. You could say the same thing about Jews. You could say the same thing about Russians in certain areas. Pick somebody.

And when wherever you see a sense of community, there's always a stronger success at whatever they do, period. So I think that's a very, very valid point. What are the disadvantages of going to an HBCU? The disadvantages of going to an HBCU are rooted in the underfunding of historically black colleges and universities. So when students are attending an HBCU or applying to an HBCU, they may find that their communication may be lacking.

They may find that there may be shortages in certain in the classes. There may be things may not be done as thoroughly as you may experience as one might experience at a predominantly white institution. Do you mean things that may not be done thoroughly by the staff at the school or done thoroughly by federal government? By the staff at the school. So at so for example, if you were to go and register for let's just talk about the process of going to college, of getting financial aid.

Okay. You apply to universities. The the common procedure is to get that financial aid award letter by a certain time and making a decision about what awards you will accept, deny, negotiate, or what have you. And then the student accepts the, you know, then and then you move on to enrollment. And once you move into enrollment, you choose your classes in the schedule, and then you're able to receive your your schedule for the year.

在某個時候，如果你選擇在校園上學，你也需要註冊。你還需要註冊住宿，並且有一個非常清晰的步驟流程來指導你如何獲得住宿。你依照步驟操作，就能及時獲得所需的一切。為了確保這些事情及時完成，你需要人員。對。

Personnel requires money. Right. And often, historically black colleges and universities, in the words of our education secretary, Miguel Cardona, said for far too long, our historically black colleges and universities have been punching above their weight. So our historically black colleges and universities are doing the most with what they have. And, there was a study that came out from the National Center for Education Statistics.

And from '19 so I wanna step back and talk about HBCU. So you have different types of historically black colleges and universities. You have private ones. For example, Morehouse, Spelman. Those are private ones.

然後是土地贈與機構。例如，普雷裡維尤農工大學（Prairie View A&M University）就是一所土地贈與機構。它是德克薩斯州聯邦政府土地贈與的一部分，作為一所機構而創建的。現在我們談論它，就像德克薩斯州的德克薩斯農工大學（Texas A&M University）是一所土地贈與大學一樣，但也有一些私立大學不是土地贈與學院。例如，哈佛大學（Harvard）無疑是哈佛大學。

我非常懷疑耶魯大學。我非常懷疑它們是不是贈地大學。所以，當我談到資金不足時，我是在比較贈地大學和其他贈地大學。所以，當我們思考贈地大學時，想想這些州級旗艦學校。例如，在俄克拉荷馬州，俄克拉荷馬大學就是一所贈地大學。

So when you so when we think about comparing it so we think we're gonna compare predominantly white land grant institutions in the South And and then we're gonna compare them to their counterparts that are HBCUs. When you compare the HBCUs to their PWI counterparts, predominantly white institutions, Those HBCUs from 1987 to 2020 have been underfunded by $12,000,000,000. Wow. I'm not surprised though. I'm not surprised though.

It's one of the many other ways we've been othered. Yes. And and and and that's also why it's a challenge for us to receive monies to pay for it. For most students, their largest source of scholarships will come from their college or university. Right.

Now imagine you're attending you're attending a school that has been underfunded. So if you compare the resources at a PWI, that's a land grant, or a land grant institution that's a predominantly white institution, to a land grant institution that's an HBCU, how can you the the the resources, the the disparities are so large. So that goes into the the lack of scholarship monies that are available. And no. Go ahead.

Go ahead. And I want to say this because I want people who attend HBCUs to know that you're not crazy. Like if you find that some things are easier when you apply to a PWI versus when you apply to HBCU. You're not crazy. And it's often it it can be circumstances beyond your control.

It's a part of us it's a part of systemic racism. Okay. But just because the systemic racism exists, doesn't mean you can't move in the direction you wanna go. You just got to move a little differently. Right.

So let's talk about that moving differently. So we talked about the problem. What's the solution? What can they do to of the ante or, to increase the likelihood of them getting all the funding they need? Start early.

Start early. Start looking at what it's going to take to pay for everything. And for people who attend my seminars, I have people leave with a a spreadsheet that allows them to have a conversation with family members and the student about who is paying for what when. And start having that conversation about about that. And then start looking at the different opportunities.

I'll tell you, I had a conversation this past week with a woman who has a seventh grader and she says, oh I'm just too late. I didn't, you know, she feels like, oh I didn't save enough money and, you know, as a financial planner in school, we're we're taught to tell people, okay, you're going to run this cash flow analysis and you're gonna calculate what okay. Well, if college costs, you know, if college is gonna cost a hundred thousand dollars for all four years for a student at a given particular time. Well well, you're taught to reverse engineer and calculate how much that parent needs to invest for that student over eighteen years to reach that hundred thousand dollar goal. Well, okay, that's nice.

But then we get into the pragmatic aspects of raising children and just the pragmatic aspects of life. So many things happen over eighteen years. And I think parents beat themselves up because they couldn't make those deposits into college savings consistently for eighteen years. And in my observation, most parents are doing the best they can do. So Yeah.

If you get to the point where your your child is, say, in the seventh grade and you don't have 50% of your student's college funded, maybe life happened to you and you just couldn't do it. Don't beat yourself up about it. It. Start thinking about what you can do now. And I'm a give you I'm a tell you about this young woman.

Her son is very interested in animal science. He loves animals. And so she's asking me, well, what can we do for college? And I said, look, there is a program from the US Department of Agriculture called the eighteen ninety Scholars Program. And for students who pursue careers in agriculture, and animal science is included in that, those that program supports students who are going to HBCUs, who are studying that particular in in agriculture.

And I said what you do now is you start positioning your child to earn this scholarship. Because and who knows? Your child may not even get this scholarship. Your child may turn around next week and say, I'm not into animals anymore. I want to go into psychology and I want to become a therapist.

Well I would tell you this, if you have your student shooting for a goal, shooting for a high goal, all that's gonna do is give that student options. Exactly. And and that's the purpose of an education. And that's why we've always wanted to be educated. Black people since the beginning of our before our emancipation, before that, we wanted information.

We wanted knowledge. Yep. Because knowledge gives you choices and knowledge makes you free. All the more reason why we sought it after emancipation because it was literally beaten out of us. We were not allowed to be educated and literate.

We would literally get killed for reading. And so it it explains why education was so to our our older generation, why it was so extremely important to them, and why all these HBCUs kept popping up, especially in the South, around the country. So what I'm hearing is that for those who are interested in attending an HBCU, it might be there there's gonna be some challenges, but that doesn't mean it's impossible or that they shouldn't try it. Because I will tell you, I'm a I'm a I must tell you all my age right now. There was a show, a TV show, when I was, in high school and early actually, in high school, I think, called A Different World.

我們回到19年，我會告訴你們真正的年份。年輕人，你們可以去查一下。那時候有一部電視劇叫《另一個世界》。如果你現在十幾歲，你可能根本沒聽過，也許你聽過你爸媽說起過。但那部電視劇在當時非常火爆，因為它講的是大學生的故事，講的是黑人學院（HBCU）的大學生活，而我們大多數人以前都沒看過，只能在夢裡想像。

我會告訴你，這部劇讓我更珍惜他們的存在。我喜歡這種社區感，尤其是在大學之外，在黑人之外。所以我喜歡在奧爾巴尼看到一座華人教堂。我喜歡看到這一點。他們有了社區感，因為現在有了和他們一樣的人。

There are colleges that focus on arts only. There's a sense of community there because what they all have in common is art. In this case, what we all have common is brown skin in history. But any sense of any any, any sort of a a a bring together community is always gonna make you stronger. Whether that's a mosque, whether it's a church, whether it's a HBCU, whatever it is.

I love, love, love commute when people come together as a community and they support each other. And that's the one thing I love about HBCUs, and I wish I kinda wish I was I had gone to one, but I I just love that that sense of people around you who are no. Everybody's not gonna have the same experience, but we will have some experiences in common because we grew up in this country and people who look like me and that support. So when you tell me those numbers, even though I was like, oh my god, those numbers are huge. If I sit down and I think about it, oh, there's a support system.

So I guess it doesn't surprise me if I think about it that way. I just think that it is a a beautiful thing. And I think that all of you listeners should find your own community. Right now, we're talking about HBCUs. But I don't care if you're white, Chinese, Indian, tall, fat, short, skinny, blue, whatever.

找到你的支持者社群。我堅信中心化的社群，而不是現在這種包羅萬象、人人都平淡無奇、虛偽愚蠢的社群。我確實相信包容性，但我們之間的失衡已經到瞭如此程度，所以我才會這麼說。社群意識非常重要，你知道，和經歷過同樣事情的人一起進行團體治療，也能產生社群意識，這就是我這樣做的原因。你知道，這種社群意識非常非常重要。

I'm sorry. I'll go on and on and preach all day long because I just feel so strong about it. And I think it's a beautiful thing, and I love that you I love the numbers that you're bringing here and and some facts. And, you know, the real talk about everything ain't perfect. Just because you go to HBCU doesn't mean all of a sudden your blackness is beautiful and everybody's perfect.

也別指望那樣。對吧？沒錯。沒錯。就像任何其他充滿人類的社區一樣，你總是會得到一些東西。

But, but there's a there's a a beauty in it that I can definitely appreciate. I think even if I wasn't Black, I'd probably still appreciate it because I just believe in a sense of community, you know? Now, tell the audience what services you offer at Scholar Ready. Alright. These are the services that I offer, especially for those of you who are considering applying to HBCUs.

I help families first of all with the financial aspect of it. So if you need some financial planning around juggling the demands of college and any other priorities you might have. At this age, parents are they're looking forward to their students graduating college. They're also looking forward to their own retirements and that can be a balancing act. So I'm a certified financial planner and I help families with that.

我做的另一件事是幫助學生創造條件，讓他們有更多選擇。我不知道學生會主修什麼。有個學生可能今天告訴我，像是前面提到的那個，他們想學動物科學，明天又想學心理學。我創造條件，幫助他們無論想從事什麼職業，都有更多選擇。我透過幫助學生準備PSAT、SAT和ACT來做到這一點。

I also help them to improve their reading comprehension, their writing skills, and their math skills. So do you help students, can you help students anywhere in the country or only in Texas? That's a good question. Anywhere in the country. Anywhere in the country.

I meet students online. I've been meeting students online since probably in since years before we even this became a norm with the onset of the pandemic. And if you are listening, this is the the second time I've had a Jennifer Levitt on as a guest. I will say, based on our conversations that we've had off the air, I haven't met anyone that knows more about the subject than her. So if you are looking at an HBCU, I strongly recommend you you talk to her.

And as you can hear, she she gives you real honest responses and real realistic, advice because sometimes people give you idealistic advice, which is not helpful to most people. You know, she gives you realistic advice. So I strongly recommend that you reach out to her, if you're just looking for help to go to college in general, but especially HBCU. And I do think that if you are going to HBCU, you need help. Unless you have somebody who already has been through it and they they know the path because they've done it, okay, fine.

但大多數人沒有，所以你需要一個在這方面真正專精的人。那麼人們要怎麼找到你呢？他們可以在scholarready.com找到我，我相信你會把這些連結放在節目筆記裡。是的。另外，你也可以透過我的Eventbrite頁面的連結聯絡我。

And I'm hosting events throughout the year about how to go to college for free HBCUs. And that allows people to get a hold of my ebook, 50 ways is it, it's 50 ways to win scholarships. There's also an essay writing ebook that guides people through very common topics that they will encounter as they are pursuing, as they are completing their college admission and scholarship applications. Well, thank you, Jennifer, for coming on again. I always enjoy talking to you.

This has been a really awesome conversation. I definitely learned a lot just even before we talked. Some stuff you told me off air, I was like, wow. So, once again, thank you so so much for coming on. Thank you, Fatima.

感謝你們的邀請。現在，讓我們來轉換一下思路。今天我想在你們的腦海中佈置一個思考席，並給你們一點挑戰。想想黑人學院（HBCU）以及它們誕生的初衷。它們最初為何有必要存在？

It was a different society back then, or so we're told. Are they still necessary today? Why do they still need to exist today? We talked about some of the benefits earlier in the episode. Why do they still need to exist today?

And why are they underfunded? Why should they be underfunded? And then I want you to just go to your next thought. Well, that's not fair. What can I do about it?

我指的不是你擁有數百萬美元來資助一切的宏大事業。我的意思是，我能做些什麼，哪怕只是一點點，來改變那裡？我不在乎你是什麼膚色。你也可以有所作為。只是一些值得思考的事情。

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