Kei’Yanii Dawson, a junior at a predominantly White private high school in San Francisco, has long dreamed of attending a historically Black college or university (HBCU). The appeal is clear: a campus where she could learn and grow alongside more students who look like her, all while engaging in a vibrant academic and social community. But for Dawson, like so many other Black students outside the South, the path to an HBCU has always meant traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles from home—and often taking on significant debt to cover out-of-state tuition and housing. "I feel like if there was a satellite (HBCU) here in San Francisco, it would just be so much easier," Dawson said, according to CNN. "An education coming to me instead of me going so far, there’s definitely more benefits from that, money-wise."
This sentiment is at the heart of a growing movement to bring HBCU satellite campuses to cities far from their traditional southern strongholds. In places like Boston and San Francisco, local officials and advocates are actively working to create new opportunities for Black students to access the unique educational and cultural benefits of HBCUs—without uprooting their lives or straining their finances. It's a push that comes at a pivotal moment for higher education, as the Trump administration's policies have targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and challenged the very foundations of affirmative action at elite institutions like Harvard University.
The call for HBCU expansion has gained momentum in response to these federal actions. Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell, for instance, filed an order in June 2025 proposing the establishment of an HBCU satellite campus in the city. "If we are serious about building a diverse workforce here in Boston in tech, health care, education, government, then we need to be just as serious about the pipelines that people get here," Worrell said, as reported by CNN. The closest HBCUs to Boston are Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and Lincoln University—both more than 300 miles away. Worrell has scheduled a community listening session for August 26, 2025, to gather feedback on what residents hope to see in a local HBCU campus, and he’s considering credit transfer partnerships to ease the transition for students already enrolled in area colleges.
Meanwhile, in California, Huston-Tillotson University—a small private HBCU in Austin, Texas—has announced plans to launch an off-campus instructional site in San Diego. The new site, which is expected to open in spring 2026 pending necessary approvals and accreditation, will initially offer a business administration program. "We started getting a lot of calls and getting requests for a presence there so that the students would have a choice of whether to come out to Texas or to take courses (in California)," Beverly Downing, the university’s associate provost, told CNN. The expansion is a direct response to growing interest among students and families in the region, many of whom want access to the HBCU experience without leaving the West Coast.
San Francisco, too, is exploring the possibility of hosting an HBCU satellite campus as part of its Black 2 San Francisco initiative, launched in 2024. City officials are in active discussions with several HBCUs, though details about the timeline and partner institutions remain under wraps. Former Mayor London Breed argued that an HBCU campus in San Francisco would "boost our downtown and our economy, while bringing new minds and ideas to grow within our world-renowned culture of innovation."
The push for HBCU expansion comes at a time when federal support for DEI initiatives and minority-serving institutions is under threat. The Trump administration has proposed a 2026 fiscal year budget that would slash $64 million in funding for Howard University—the nation’s only federally chartered HBCU—and has canceled a $16.3 million grant for Florida A&M University’s pharmacy school as part of broader efforts to end DEI programs. In April 2025, President Trump signed an executive order supporting HBCUs, stating, "This order will continue the work begun during my first Administration to elevate the value and impact of our Nation’s HBCUs as beacons of educational excellence and economic opportunity that serve as some of the best cultivators of tomorrow’s leaders in business, government, academia, and the military." Yet, these actions have not shielded HBCUs from significant funding threats and political scrutiny.
On August 14, 2025, however, US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher provided a reprieve, striking down two Trump administration actions that sought to cut federal funding from educational institutions with DEI programs. According to The Associated Press, Judge Gallagher ruled that the Education Department had violated the law—at least temporarily halting the administration’s efforts to undermine DEI in higher education.
HBCUs have a long and storied history. Established in the mid to late 1800s in response to legal segregation in the South and quotas in the North, these institutions became the primary means for Black Americans to access higher education. Today, the majority of HBCUs remain in the South, but their impact is national. According to the United Negro College Fund, HBCUs produce 70% of Black doctors and dentists, 50% of Black engineers, and 35% of Black attorneys. They also boast higher retention and graduation rates among Black students compared to predominantly White institutions.
Keith Lezama, CEO and founder of Building Bridges Education, sees the expansion of HBCUs as essential for providing access and pathways for Black students in regions where such opportunities have long been scarce. "HBCUs are a movement that has allowed access when access wasn’t allowed," Lezama said to CNN. "A movement that instills a sense of pride, resilience that produces amazing leaders in our communities and across the world. To know many of these institutions do this without the same resources (as predominantly White colleges), is something that can be seen as a national model of what excellence looks like in education."
Yet, the idea of HBCU satellite campuses is not without its detractors. Some critics argue that expanding into new regions risks diluting the historical and cultural significance of these institutions. "You want to attend an HBCU, then move to a city where the school history and culture already exist," one user posted on X. "Our resources are stretched enough. Plus, our cities depend on the migration of students from the North." Another user added, "One of the lures of HBCUs is the historical part and putting a satellite campus somewhere random disconnects that. Especially in Boston."
Brandon Graham, founder and CEO of Our HBCUs Matter Foundation, acknowledges the challenge of replicating the close-knit connections and traditions of main campuses at satellite locations. Still, he remains optimistic. "It will have positive effects on the institutional educational branding, on its financials, as well as on its ability to cultivate a very diverse alumni base across the country," Graham said. "This next level of satellite campuses is going to diversify and transform the way an HBCU education can be provided."
As cities like Boston and San Francisco weigh the benefits and challenges of hosting HBCU satellite campuses, one thing is certain: the debate over access, tradition, and the future of Black higher education is far from settled. For students like Kei’Yanii Dawson, the possibility of an HBCU education close to home is more than a convenience—it’s a chance to be part of a legacy, and to shape what that legacy looks like for generations to come.
