Supporting High-Achieving Nontraditional Black Male Undergraduates: Implications for Theory, Policy, and Practice

Abstract

To address deficit-oriented discourse about Black males in higher education, researchers havebegun to focus on high-achieving Black males. Despite this focus, there is limited research onhigh-achieving nontraditional Black males (HNBMs). The purpose of this article is to urge thestart of a new scholarly conversation focused on investigating the experiences of HNBMcollegians in order to develop programs and policies to support the retention and graduation ofall nontraditional Black males. To begin this conversation, I first examine the challenges thatnontraditional Black students face in higher education to contextualize the need for studies thatfocus on HNBM collegians. Second, I discuss the current literature which explores theexperiences of high-achieving Black male students and how focusing on HNBMs fills a gap inthe scholarly discourse. Lastly, the article concludes with implications for theory, universitypolicymakers, and practitioners.