15 HBCUs Launch National Research Coalition

For students weighing HBCUs against other institutions, research opportunity has historically been one of the hardest gaps to close. R1 universities attract larger federal grants, run more active research labs, and offer more undergraduate positions in active studies. Until April 29, 2026, only one HBCU could point to that status.

That may be beginning to change.

What AHRI Is

The Association of HBCU Research Institutions — AHRI — held its founding ceremony at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2026. The coalition represents fifteen founding member institutions and has a single driving goal: help its members earn R1 Carnegie Classification, the highest research designation in American higher education.¹

Howard University, the only HBCU currently classified as R1 (Very High Research Activity), serves as the anchor institution. The remaining fourteen members hold R2 status (High Research Activity):

• Clark Atlanta University
• Delaware State University
• Florida A&M University
• Hampton University
• Jackson State University
• Morgan State University
• North Carolina A&T State University
• Prairie View A&M University
• South Carolina State University
• Southern University
• Tennessee State University
• Texas Southern University
• Virginia State University
• University of Maryland Eastern Shore

AHRI is led by an interim president, Wayne A. I. Frederick, with David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University, serving as board chair and Tomikia P. LeGrande, president of Prairie View A&M, as board vice chair.¹

The coalition is co-located with the Association of American Universities — a significant alignment with one of the country's most elite research consortiums.

What R1 Classification Actually Means

Carnegie Classification is the most widely used framework for categorizing American colleges. At the top tier sits R1: Doctoral Universities with Very High Research Activity. Schools in this tier attract federal research dollars from agencies like the NSF and NIH, operate major research centers, and tend to offer undergraduates direct access to funded research projects.

The practical stakes for students are concrete. R1 institutions produce more research fellowships, employ more faculty with active grant funding, and have stronger pipelines to graduate programs and STEM employers.

1 — HBCUs currently holding R1 Carnegie Classification (Very High Research Activity)^{Association of HBCU Research Institutions, April 2026}

The Harvard Connection

A three-year, $1.05 million grant from Harvard University's "Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery" (H&LS) Initiative is providing early funding for AHRI's launch and infrastructure.² The H&LS Initiative was created in 2022 following Harvard's extensive internal report on its historical ties to slavery, accompanied by a $100 million commitment over 20 years to remediation efforts.

For AHRI, the grant underwrites the coalition's early operations: coordinating research strategy across institutions, building grant-writing infrastructure, and establishing the administrative foundation needed to compete for large-scale federal research awards.

R1 status is not awarded — it is calculated. The Carnegie Classification System measures a school's research expenditures, doctoral degrees granted, and research staff annually. AHRI's strategy is to grow those numbers across all fifteen member schools until the data places them in the R1 tier automatically.

What This Means for Students Right Now

AHRI does not change undergraduate research access overnight. Reclassification happens on a multi-year cycle based on accumulated institutional data, and the coalition is at its beginning.

But the direction matters. Coordinated federal grant applications, shared faculty recruitment strategies, and a formal relationship with AAU gives AHRI member schools capabilities they did not have individually. For students who want the community and culture of an HBCU alongside access to competitive research, this coalition represents an institutional commitment to a gap that has existed for decades.

If you are researching HBCUs, our guide to HBCU application tips covers what makes these schools distinctive in the process — including financial aid patterns that differ from larger research universities. Our average cost of college per year page breaks down cost differences across institution types.

For funding specifically, see our guides to scholarships for college students and how to find and win merit scholarships. Many HBCU-specific scholarships are not widely advertised, and AHRI member schools often have strong internal grant programs tied to their research missions.

Questions to Ask Admissions Offices Now

If you are seriously considering any of the fifteen AHRI institutions for fall 2026 or 2027, these are worth asking directly:

For prospective undergraduates: Are there paid undergraduate research positions available? Does the school have a research fellows program? How many undergraduates co-author published research per year?

For prospective graduate students: What is the school's federal grant success rate in your field? How does the AHRI coalition affect your department's funding pipeline?

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For broader context on choosing between schools with different institutional profiles, see our guide to colleges with the best financial aid. Our student loan debt by race resource adds background on why institutional type can shape long-term financial outcomes differently across student populations.

Footnotes

1. Hampton University. (2026, April 29). Hampton University, 14 HBCUs Launch National Research Coalition to Accelerate Innovation and Expand Impact. Hampton University News. https://home.hamptonu.edu/blog/2026/04/29/hampton-university-14-hbcus-launch-national-research-coalition-to-accelerate-innovation-and-expand-impact/ ↩ ↩²

2. Harvard University. (2026, April). Harvard deepens commitment to HBCUs with $1.05 million grant. The Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/04/harvard-deepens-commitment-to-hbcus-with-1-05-million-grant/ ↩