Historically black colleges and universities are about to have a mess on their hands. Because of a sharp change to a student loan policy, enrollment has dramatically dropped. This is not good for the schoolsor hopeful high school graduates.

Founded primarily after the Civil War, these higher institutions served the black community when white colleges didnt allow them to attend.

Currently, there are 105 historically black colleges and universities in the United States, and these include public and private, two-year and four-year institutions, medical schools and community colleges. They educate about 374,000 students, including white students.

The enrollment is declining at these schools because in 2011, the PLUS loansdisqualified borrowers with unpaid debts that had been referred to collection agencies over the past five years.

PLUS loans have long been popular because, unlike many student loans, they have no limit and can cover an array of needs, including tuition, fees, books, and room and board. Parents apply for the loans, some upwards of $50,000, to cover the amount of money needed to bridge financial gaps for their childrens education.

Historically, loans, fellowships, and scholarships have been critical for students at these colleges, said Rolonda Watts, a radio personality and alumna of Spelman University in Atlanta. I got through there [college] with work studies, scholarships and loans.

Watts great, great grandfather was a founder of Bennett College in North Carolina.

Nathan Ober, a student at Villanova University, has done extensive research on the student debt crisis and notes that black students are the most likely among all racial or ethnic groups to graduate with high debt.

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Why Historically Black Colleges Are in Serious Trouble