Michael Hill needed a doctoral program that was flexible to let him work on full-time as a Lincoln University administrator; he chose an online degree course from another institution.

Having first hand experience, he is now trying an online program in Lincoln. It is among many black colleges yet to enter the lucrative internet education industry admired by many black colleges.

Comprising 12% of the sum enrollment in higher education in 2007, the blacks were 21% of the students at the for-profit institutions most being online, this is as per a report by the American Council on Education released this year.

Tom Joyner, a syndicate host dominated by black audience, shares the market potential. The longtime black college and university promoter and philanthropist has invested over $7 million to initiate HBCUsOnline.com, en educational venture managed by his son.

Tom Joyner Jr. said many of the students who were doing the online courses were part of his listening audience and they could be best served by HBCUs.

As the black colleges only admit about 11 percent of the entire black students, their traditions and legacies still revolve around the African-American community. It is sensible that those institutions would like to recapture students from for-profit as the University of Phoenix has done according to Richard Garrett, the managing director of the consulting firm Eduventures.
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