Journalism and Mass Communication students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly White Institutions: Saying Goodbye to the Digital Divide

The digital divide has been described as the distance or gap in access to information based on race, ethnicity, income, education and geographical location. This study examined how freshmen and first-semester journalism and mass communications students at five Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been able to bridge the divide. It is important to know that HBCUs educate more than African-Americans, however the majority of students at HBCUs come from lower socio-economic levels than students that attend Predominantly White Institutions. The respondents in this study are self-described as daily moderate to heavy Internet users. Their parents and guardians are also frequent Internet users. The study examines the uses and gratifications of the respondents and if their institutions were able to help them find information on school funding. The study’s results are completely portable to other disciplines and all colleges and universities regardless of size or scope