Abstract:

The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has altered the lives of individuals, social institutions, systems, etc. in every nation on planet earth. Some nations have been impacted more than others for many reasons. Many nations, especially the United States, are still coping with this pandemic with little prospects for an end in sight. There are many layers of impact that nations are experiencing, such as the healthcare crisis, where all nations are experiencing devastating effects on domestic economies and the global economy. Every segment and sub-segment of the population in each nation were adversely impacted. Unfortunately, the population of nations across the globe is still experiencing the adverse impacts of the last several months as well with steadily ground numbers of infections and deaths around the world. Because the spread of the pandemic has touched all communities in large urban areas, medium-sized urban areas, suburban areas, and rural areas, their are many changes still underway. Higher education communities in all nations were adversely impacted. Drastic shifts in operations, course schedules, etc. were altered virtually overnight in response to threats to health and safety as results on the rapid spread of coronavirus – 19 worldwide. In the United States, there were major changes in the nation’s higher education community. Consequently, this study is focused on a segment of the American system of higher education known as HBCUs. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) is a federal government definition of institutions of higher education that were established before 1964 for the education of African Americans. This research project was guided by four research questions.

Those research questions are:
1.) To what extent did the instructional transition delivery change during the coronavirus – 19 pandemic for undergraduate HBCU students?
2.) To what extent did the coronavirus – 19 pandemic influence housing during the matriculation experience of undergraduate HBCU students?
3.) To what extent did the coronavirus – 19 pandemic adversely influence academic performance among undergraduate HBCU students?
4.) To what extent did the coronavirus – 19 pandemic impact the financial status of undergraduate HBCU students?

A correlational research design was developed for this study, which is a quantitative study. The cluster sampling method was used to collect data for this study from selected clusters of HBCU undergraduate students in 8 States along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Eighteen clusters (institutions) of HBCU undergraduate students within the 8 eastern seaboard states were randomly identified. Further, clusters of HBCU students were randomly selected for the administration of a short electronic survey. Total sample size of the collected data was N = 344 (n = 179, n =168). Four null hypotheses were tested by analyzing samples of collected data using the two-sample Chi-Square Test of Independence statistical method. All four were rejected. All null hypotheses were tested at the .05 Alpha level of significance.Major findings indicated that undergraduate HBCU students were adversely impacted by the drastic shift to a remote technology-based instructional delivery method. Moreover, financial status and housing transition were significant variables that negatively impacted their academic performance too. The overall experiences of undergraduate HBCU students were negatively impacted significantly.

Keywords:

HBCU, instructional delivery transition, cluster sampling, financial status, academic performance, housing transition, collegiate matriculation experiences.