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

Abstract

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 masscommunications students at five Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been able to bridge the divide. Itis important to know that HBCUs educate more than African-Americans, however the majority of students atHBCUs come from lower socio-economic levels than students that attend Predominantly White Institutions. Therespondents in this study are self-described as daily moderate to heavy Internet users. Their parents and guardians arealso frequent Internet users. The study examines the uses and gratifications of the respondents and if their institutionswere able to help them find information on school funding. The study’s results are completely portable to otherdisciplines and all colleges and universities regardless of size or scope.