Counting Without Credit: How Dual-Degree Programs Erase HBCUs’ Impact on Black Engineering Success

Dr. Christopher C. Jett The data on where Black engineers graduate from tells a misleading story. Institutions like Georgia Tech, Carnegie M...

Dr. Christopher C. JettThe data on where Black engineers graduate from tells a misleading story. Institutions like Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of California (UC), Berkeley often appear near the top of national lists as “producers” of Black engineering PhDs. Yet when you look at where these same students actually earn their bachelor’s degrees, those institutions are largely absent. Instead, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)—such as North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (A&T) State University, Morgan State University, and Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University—dominate the list of top producers of Black engineering bachelor’s degrees. 

What the statistics obscure is that many of the Black engineers credited to elite, predominantly white research institutions began their academic journeys at HBCUs. What is also hidden is that some Black engineers began their collegiate journeys in dual-degree programs. In these “3 + 2” or “dual-degree” pathways, students spend three years at an HBCU completing foundational science or math coursework before transferring to a partner institution. Likely a predominantly white, research-intensive university, where they must complete two more years of engineering training. They walk away with two degrees, but only one institution gets counted as the “producer” of the engineering graduate. And it’s rarely the HBCU.

Devin WhiteThis gap between where Black engineers are developed and where they are counted reveals a deeper pattern of institutional erasure.

The Hidden HBCU Pipeline

Dr. Christopher Jett’s new study, "Expanding Conceptualizations of Engineering Persistence", offers a rare window into the lived experiences of four Black men in dual-degree engineering programs. His findings are both inspiring and unsettling. Two students began at HBCUs, where they leveraged peer networks, mentorship from Black professors, and organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) to survive and thrive in environments that were often isolating.

Yet, as Jett notes, these HBCU-trained students are quietly sustaining the engineering enterprise at partner institutions that later claim the accolades. The same institutions that welcome them as transfers are credited nationally as the baccalaureate-origin institutions of record when these students go on to pursue PhDs or careers in engineering. HBCUs, which ignited and affirmed their early STEM interests, built their academic foundations, and nurtured their sense of belonging, are effectively written out of the data narrative.

Dr. Ebony McGeeGeorgia Tech Gets Credit—But North Carolina A&T Built the Pipeline

It’s no coincidence that Georgia Tech appears in the National Science Foundation’s data as one of the nation’s largest producers of Black engineers. But when you look closer, you see that a significant portion of those students started at HBCUs like Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Prairie View Agricultural & Mechanical University. HBCUs have long been the heartbeat of Black STEM achievement. Despite chronic underfunding, these institutions continue to graduate and empower the very scholars who diversify and strengthen our nation’s scientific enterprise. In their Journal of Negro Education article, Dr. Ebony McGee and colleagues remind us that HBCUs’ race-conscious leadership doesn’t just open doors; it rebuilds the house of STEM to make space for those historically excluded. 

In truth, North Carolina A&T should be nationally recognized as the nation’s top baccalaureate-origin institution for Black students who go on to earn PhDs in engineering. Recent data from both The EDU Ledger’s Top 100 Degree Producers 2022–2023 and the National Science Foundation’s Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering 2021 report show that North Carolina A&T State University is the nation’s leading producer of Black engineers—consistently graduating more Black students in engineering at both the bachelor’s and doctoral levels than far wealthier, predominantly white institutions such as Georgia Tech or UC Berkeley. However, national databases track degree attainment in ways that privilege the receiving institutions—the Georgia Techs of the world—over the sending institutions that did the heavy lifting. As a result, the foundational work of HBCUs is rendered invisible, even as they remain the backbone of Black engineering education.

The Cost of Black Erasure

This kind of statistical erasure isn’t just an oversight; it shapes funding, prestige, and policy. Rankings and grant distributions often rely on the same flawed metrics that fail to acknowledge dual-degree pipelines. When policymakers, education stakeholders, or the public assume that majority-white research universities are the primary cultivators of Black engineering talent, it becomes easier to justify underfunding the HBCUs that are doing transformative work with fewer resources.

Jett’s study reminds us that HBCUs successfully “cultivate Black engineering majors with meager resources—equipment, facilities, personnel, and endowments—in comparison to doctoral-granting institutions.” These institutions are not just feeders; they are incubators of brilliance, resilience, and community for Black engineers.

If we are serious about racial equity in STEM, then we must begin by telling the truth about where Black engineering talent comes from. That means redesigning how we track and attribute degrees in national datasets. Federal and state agencies should adopt transfer-sensitive metrics that fully recognize dual-degree pathways.

It also means giving credit where it’s due—acknowledging HBCUs not merely as “partners” but as co-authors of Black engineering success stories. Their contributions should be visible in every measure of institutional excellence—from rankings to research funding to PhD pipeline reports—possibly even acknowledged on the degree itself. Finally, we must reframe our collective understanding of persistence. As Jett’s study shows, Black engineering students are not simply surviving—they are thriving because of the community and preparation they receive at HBCUs. If we continue to credit only the end of the pipeline, we obscure the brilliance of its source.

Every time we celebrate another “top producer” of Black engineers, we should ask a simple question: Where did these students start, and who is responsible for cultivating their STEM skills? Until we center that question and our data systems reflect it, we will continue to reward HWIs for outcomes they did not fully create. At the same time, the HBCUs that have been cultivating Black STEM excellence for well over a century remain under-recognized, under-resourced, and under attack. 

The future of equitable STEM education depends not just on who gets degrees, but on who gets credit for helping make them possible.

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Dr. Christopher C. Jett is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at Georgia State University.

Devin White is a Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Ebony McGee is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Innovation and Inclusion in the STEM Ecosystem at Johns Hopkins University.

 

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