Wilberforce University

Private · Selective · OH

Photo: Nyttend (Public Domain)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationOH · Midwest

SettingRural

Undergrads822

Student:faculty12:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate5.6%

6-yr grad rate12%

Drop-out rate25.8%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$16k

Out-of-state tuition$16k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity99.8%

Gender diversity53%

International0.4%

IdentityHBCU · African Methodist Episcopal

Overview

Wilberforce is the nation's first private historically Black college owned and operated by African Americans, founded in 1856 in Wilberforce, Ohio, and affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Its founding predates emancipation, and it occupies a foundational place in Black higher education history — W. E. B. Du Bois taught there early in his academic career — a legacy that is actively taught and referenced on campus rather than left as background trivia.

Academics

The university emphasizes business, STEM fields, and the humanities at a small-college scale, with close faculty contact that comes naturally at its size. Its identity as a historically significant, church-founded HBCU shapes coursework in African American history and culture across departments, and the AME Church's presence is felt in campus religious life and mission language even for students who aren't themselves AME.

Campus & student life

Set in the small, rural southwestern Ohio community that shares its name, the campus sits near Central State University — itself a descendant of a combined department the two schools once shared before splitting into separate institutions. Student life is close-knit given Wilberforce's small size, with chapel and church-affiliated traditions woven through the calendar alongside the ordinary rhythms of a small residential college.

Worth knowing

The school's status as one of the oldest Black colleges in the country, and its role in Du Bois's early career, are worth knowing for students drawn to that legacy specifically — this is a small school where that history is lived daily through chapel, mission language, and church ties rather than referenced only in admissions materials.

wilberforce.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate40.5%

Enrolled mid-50%1010

Test policyoptional

Rec letters—

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying (2026-27 cycle)

Apply through Own application.

Financial aid formsMar 15

Verified from the school’s admissions pages ↗