Southern University is not the only HBCU doing such outreach. The United Negro College Fund, an organization representing 37 private historically Black colleges and universities, recently launched a new initiative to bring 4,000 students back to HBCUs across the country to earn their degrees, aided by one-on-one coaching. The move mirrors other efforts by historically Black institutions to reclaim students who left, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected Black Americans at disproportionate rates in terms of infections and deaths, and led to job losses and other negative financial outcomes for low-income students and their families. More than five million Black Americans aged 25 and older have some college but no degree, according to Census Bureau data released in 2020.