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<p>Is that such a big deal? Even if the OP’s daughter is non-black, there are non-black students at HB schools, and plenty of students attend schools where they are members of minority groups (including black students attending non-HB schools).</p>
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<p>Graduation rates generally have more to do with the student than the school. The top scholarship winners are likely to have much better graduation rates than the overall students at the same schools. The top scholarship winners are more likely to be able to handle full course loads, not need remedial courses, have some freshman level requirements fulfilled with AP credit, etc…</p>
<p>However, if risk of delayed graduation (beyond the length of financial aid and scholarships) is a concern, take note of the (out of state) list prices of the schools (as it turns out, the public ones on this list have out of state list prices in the $30,000 per year range, while (private) Howard is more like $40,000 per year).</p>
<p>Yes, as others have mentioned, there are competitive large merit scholarships elsewhere. But competitive large merit scholarships cannot be counted on for safety schools, unlike guaranteed-for-stats large merit scholarships.</p>