IntroductionThis article examines the struggle that African American students are more likely to face at a predominantly white institution (PWI) than at a historically black college or university (HBCU). Each author has his own opinion on this hypothesis; most of the author's studies suggest that African American students have difficulty adjusting to the environment of a PWI (Littleton 2003). However, African American students at HBCUs tend to be comfortable with their learning environment. Although many authors agree with each other, there are other authors whose studies conclude that race is no longer a factor in college education. On average, the African American population of PWIs is approximately 4% (Littleton 2003). Research reveals that African American students at both institutions graduate but not at the same level. Why? There are a number of reasons why African Americans are more likely to struggle at PWIs than at HBCUs. The following factors include: background information, faculty involvement, connection with faculty, discrimination, and adaptation to a new environment. These factors impact grades, campus involvement, and graduation rates. Literature Review First we need to consider the background. The environment in which students live can tell how they will behave in school, during an activity and how they will work with the people around them. According to Tinto, “The overall differences in persistence rates between African American and non-minority students were due primarily to differences in their academic preparation rather than differences in their socioeconomic background” (Tinto 1993; Baker, Robnett, and Torres 2012). These studies…middle of the paper…or example, all students of color are not African American, the students in this survey do not represent all students in the world, the students were not required to follow up after a nine-year period, and the female students participated in the survey more than male students. The female population is over-represented in this dataset. There is a relationship between independents and dependents because as African American enrollments at PWIs increase for a variety of reasons (affirmative action, degree value, and price of schools), but students have a harder time adjusting to the PWI environment than to the HBCU one. There are many dependent variables that play an important role in this study. These dependent variables are GPA, graduation rates, overall feelings about school, faculty student involvement, campus involvement, and high school experiences..