10 Historically Black Schools Where Alumni Give the Most

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Financial contributions to colleges in the U.S. rose 9 percent in 2013, and alumni can take credit for much of that increase. Of the $33.8 billion donated to higher education institutions in 2013, 26.6 percent came from alumni, according to a report from the Council for Aid to Education.

At many historically black colleges and universities, which were created to educate African-American students and are designated by the U.S. Department of Education, the average percentage of alumni giving hovers below 10 percent. But some black institutions have alumni who donate at a much higher rate, according to data submitted to U.S. News by 45 ranked institutions.

At Claflin University, for example, 43 percent of alumni donated. It had the highest two-year average of alumni giving among historically black institutions during the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years.

[Learn about 10 other schools where alumni like to give.]

Other schools that also had high average alumni giving rates include Tuskegee University, which had 23 percent, and Fort Valley State University, with 17.2 percent. The average rate among all 10 schools with the highest average percentages was 23.1 percent.

Albany State University had one of the lowest average percentages of alumni donations: 2.6 percent.

[Consider historically black schools where freshmen return.]

Below is a list of the 10 colleges and universities with the highest two-year average percentage of alumni donors. Only schools that reported alumni giving data for both 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 were included. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of its ranking category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find alumni giving data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2013 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools. The alumni giving data above are correct as of June 3, 2014.

Delece Smith-Barrow is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering graduate schools. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dsmithbarrow@usnews.com.