Getting To Know: Coppin State University (MD)
Thanks to the well-organized team at the Baltimore Collegetown Network, I had the opportunity to take a half-day visit to Coppin State University. In 1926 this school, pronounced as Cop-in State, evolved from a two-year to a four-year Historically Black teacher’s college. The school was named for Fanny Jackson Coppin, a Black pioneer and leader in teacher education who became a missionary in South Africa in her retirement. A photo of a statue that honors her on campus is above.
Coppin State is a small school.
There are 1,900 undergraduates and 300 graduate students here, an enrollment comparable with private liberal arts colleges. Seventy-four percent of the students ate women. Eighty-nine percent come from Maryland. Nearly three quarters come from Baltimore City and Baltimore County. About a third of the student body lives on campus. Over half are Pell Grant recipients. Nearly 60 percent are first-generation college students.
Coppin State’s academic offerings are small, but some are mighty,
The university has 32 majors, including a few you’re not likely to find at a school with a small student body such as:
- Applied Psychology
- Cybersecurity Engineering
- Dance
- Elementary Education: Early Childhood and Human Development
- Entertainment Management
- Health Information Management
- Rehabilitation Services
- Sport Management
- Sport Medicine
- Urban Arts
There are multiple options within Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Education, Entertainment Management and Nursing. The university opened a new business building during the 2023-24 academic year.
Interesting to me: while Coppin State offers programs in Elementary and Special Education as well as graduate programs in the field, I could not find information on how to obtain secondary school teaching certification in the liberal arts majors. I found this interesting because Coppin State was the first college that I have visited that has a high school on its campus.
Aside from this, I felt that Coppin State was trying to offer the benefits of a liberal arts HBCU education and a pre-professional education over a fairly small number of majors. The offerings and small classes are the strengths of this school along with its efforts to be affordable.
Coppin State really tries to make costs work.
This year the estimated cost of attendance–tuition & fees, room & board and incidentals–for Maryland residents living on campus was $26,400. For non-residents it was $33,500. These costs are lower than New Jersey and Pennsylvania residents would pay to attend regional state colleges in their home states.
There are some exceptionally generous academic awards. The Fanny Jackson Coppin Scholarship is a full ride. It covers tuition, fees, room & board as well as a $1,000 allowances for books and supplies. There are also several Honors Program Scholarships. In addition to athletic scholarships there are talent based awards for dance. And these are not the only sources to reduce costs. There are also $3,500 and $5,000 awards tied to high school GPAs. Graduates of Baltimore City Community College in strong academic standing may pay no tuition. Coppin State also tries hard to recruit out-of-state students who hail from states that have fewer than two HBCUs.
I had to go to College Navigator to learn more about financial aid. Eighty-nine percent of freshmen in the Class of 2026 who requested aid received a scholarship. Seventy-seven percent received institutional scholarships directly from the university. In many cases these awards were supplements to state and federal grants that the students were also qualified to receive. Just under 40 percent of these freshmen needed to take out a student loan. I don’t think that I’ve visited another school that tries harder to make an educational experience affordable,
Efforts to maintain affordability have made Coppin relatively selective.
Coppin State accepted approximately half of all applicants for the Class of 2027 and welcomed 550 freshmen this fall, its largest class since 2012, While Coppin State admissions are test optional ,students who have strong academic records combined with SAT scores over 950 are advised to submit scores to compete for scholarships.
Coppin State’s athletic program is small but mighty as well.
It’s rare for a school this small to compete at the NCAA D-1 (scholarship) level. However, Coppin State plays 14 D-1 sports, six for men, eight for women. The Eagles play in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) same as Howard and Morgan State, which are much larger universities, in all sports excluding baseball, which plays in the Northeast Conference. Given the small student body, it’s reasonable to believe that a significant percentage of the students are also athletes. .The athletic facilities are impressive considering the small size of the student body.
Men’s basketball is probably the showcase sport. In 1997 the 15th seeded Eagles pulled off an upset against second-seeded South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. They would face tenth seeded Texas in the next round, losing by only one point. The Eagles have won either a regular season conference championship or a conference tournament championship four times since 2000. I dropped two basketball photos below.
What are some of the downsides?
This is one school that I wish could house more than a third of its undergraduate student body as well as provide an updated student center to keep the students entertained and bond them into a stronger campus community. The surrounding area was not very nice and left me with a low perception of safety. A new residence hall, scheduled to open in January, 2027 would have an additional 300 beds.
Conclusions
I can’t help but root for a school that tries so hard to be accessible and affordable to its target markets that also hits the target .on so many academic programs. I only wish that Coppin State can build a stronger, well-bonded, residential community on campus.
Report Card: Coppin State University
- Four-Year/Six-Year Graduation Rates: D/D
- Freshman Retention: C-
- Costs: A
- Comforts: B
- Community: B
- Curriculum: A
- Connections: A (Baltimore)/C (elsewhere)
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