Coppin State University

What it is like

Coppin State sits on West North Avenue in northwest Baltimore. This is a city campus served by a Metro subway station, not a college town. It is a public university, part of the University System of Maryland, and it is a historically Black institution. The federal data counts about 1,844 undergraduates and about 303 graduate students, which makes it a small university. Roughly 85% of undergraduates are Black and about 26% are men.

A few federal numbers help set expectations. Coppin admits about 46% of the students who apply, about 66% of first-year students come back for a second year, and about 54% of students receive Pell Grants. The Baltimore Banner reported in July 2026 that first-year retention reached 71% in 2025, the highest in the school's history, though still about 10 points below the average for Maryland's public university system. The federal figure is older, so read the two together as a direction of travel.

The other thing to know is how fast the school has been changing. The Banner reported that applications rose from 2,519 in 2021 to 18,381 in 2025, and Inside Higher Ed reported that the fall 2025 first-year class of about 1,000 was the largest in 25 years. The school used to draw mostly from within about 50 miles, so older descriptions of it may not match what you see on a visit today. Morgan State University, another HBCU, is about 5 miles away in the same city.

History

Coppin began in 1900, when the Baltimore City School Board started a one-year course to train African American elementary school teachers. The first classes met inside Colored High School, later called Douglass High School, on Pennsylvania Avenue. It grew into a two-year normal department in 1902 and got its own principal and separate identity in 1909.

In 1926 the teacher-training school took the name of Fanny Jackson Coppin. She was born into slavery in Washington, D.C., on October 15, 1837, graduated from Oberlin College with a bachelor's degree in 1865, and went on to lead the ladies' department at the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia. She died on January 21, 1913.

The school kept growing in steps. In 1938 it became Coppin Teachers College, with a four-year curriculum and the right to grant the Bachelor of Science. In 1950 it joined Maryland's state higher education system as Coppin State Teachers College, and in 1952 it moved to its present campus on West North Avenue. In 1963 the trustees widened its degree authority beyond teacher education and it became Coppin State College. Its first Bachelor of Arts degree followed in 1967. In 1988 it became part of the state university system, and on April 13, 2004 it took its current name, Coppin State University.

Coppin has also taken on work most colleges do not. In 1998 it took over management of nearby Rosemont Elementary School, the first higher education institution in Maryland to run a public school. It also operates Coppin Academy High School, a public charter school, and the Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation, which the university set up in 1995 for neighborhood revitalization. The neighborhood beside the campus was officially named Coppin Heights in 1989, and in 2008 the university acquired 210 properties there to build its South Campus, which a covered walkway links to the main campus.

Academics

Nursing is the program students finish in the largest numbers. The federal completions data lists 55 bachelor's degrees in registered nursing and related nursing fields, ahead of business administration at 32, liberal arts and general studies at 32, and health and medical preparatory programs at 31. Criminal justice (27), psychology (25), teacher education (19), social work (18) and biology (17) round out the busiest majors, and computer science and kinesiology each have 10.

The Helene Fuld School of Nursing offers a traditional bachelor's in nursing, an accelerated second-degree path, and an RN-to-BSN completion program for working nurses, plus a master's, a Doctor of Nursing Practice and a family nurse practitioner certificate. Its bachelor's program holds accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education through December 31, 2033, and the school is based in the Henrietta Lacks Health and Human Services Building. Its stated mission centers on serving underserved urban and global communities. Nursing is one of the programs that needs a separate application on top of admission to Coppin, along with health information management, social work and education.

Business has a new home. Coppin celebrated the opening of its College of Business building on October 19, 2023. The building cost $45.8 million and includes the Center for Strategic Entrepreneurship, a Charles Schwab Community Wealth Center, a trading floor and an entertainment production studio. For students interested in technology, the university lists a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity engineering.

The Honors Program has run for more than 30 years and combines honors courses with research, community service and cultural enrichment. Scholarship holders in the Presidential and Fanny Jackson Coppin programs can join its Academic Excellence track, which adds internships, research assistantships and graduate school preparation. The university's Institute for Standardized Testing runs free GRE, GMAT and LSAT prep workshops that any current student can join, honors or not.

Campus life

Coppin has two residence halls on campus, Gilbert A. Daley and Flossie Dedmond. Both are furnished suites of three or four rooms with a shared living area and private bathrooms, and every student who lives on campus must have a meal plan. Living-learning communities are available for honors students, nursing students, ROTC cadets and students who want gender-inclusive housing. The housing office also lists six partner residences downtown, on a 3-mile Eagle Express shuttle loop, at the same rate as campus housing. The Banner reported in 2026 that on-campus housing has been short as enrollment grew and that a new residence hall is being built. Students moving into first-year housing must send proof of hepatitis B and meningitis vaccination, or a signed waiver. The Talon Center is the student dining hub, with a full-service kitchen, meeting rooms and a convenience store.

The school's clubs page for 2026 to 2027 lists 61 student organizations. They range from pre-law, pre-health and math, computer science and cybersecurity clubs to the NAACP, the Caribbean Students Association, the African Cultural Exchange, faith fellowships and step teams. Coppin's Greek life page lists chapters of all nine National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations: Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho and Iota Phi Theta. The Alpha Phi Alpha chapter is marked inactive for the 2026 to 2027 school year. To join, students need at least 30 completed credits and a 2.50 grade point average, and the university states that hazing is prohibited under Maryland law.

The Eagles compete in NCAA Division I in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, whose full members are historically Black colleges and universities, and Coppin has been a member since 1985. The mascot is Jackson the Eagle. The men's basketball team's best-known moment came in 1997, when as a fifteenth seed it beat second-seeded South Carolina, 78 to 65, in the NCAA tournament, only the third fifteen seed to beat a two seed. The team has reached the tournament in 1990, 1993, 1997 and 2008, and plays at the Physical Education Complex.

Coppin also runs a Community Nursing Center, a clinic offering affordable care for children and adults, and Goodwill runs an Early Head Start child development center on the campus for children from 6 weeks to 3 years old.

Traditions

Homecoming at Coppin is held each February. In 2026 it ran from February 15 to 22 under the theme Legends of Blue & Gold. The week opened with a midnight breakfast for students, included a celebrity lip sync battle on February 17 and a step show on February 20, put a tailgate and both basketball games on February 21, and closed with a worship service and jazz brunch on February 22. Dates change every year, so check the homecoming page before planning a trip around it.

The university's about page lists older rituals too. Convocation, which opens the academic year with the president's address, has been held every year since 1983. Since 1929 students have competed in the Coppin Pageant, and the Royal Court, including Mister and Miss Coppin, is crowned at a coronation ceremony. Each October, I Love Coppin Week brings school spirit events that have included a birthday celebration for Fanny Jackson Coppin.

The band the sources describe is the Coppin Pep Band, which returned in fall 2023 to play at home volleyball, women's basketball and men's basketball games. It is open to any student with or without experience playing woodwind, brass or percussion instruments, so a beginner can join.

The university is celebrating its 125th anniversary, counting from its 1900 founding, and its school colors are blue and gold.

Getting in

The undergraduate admissions page lays out what first-year applicants send: the online application and an official high school transcript, sent straight from your school. If you took AP, IB or CLEP exams or earned college credit in high school, the school asks for official scores or transcripts for those as well. Test scores are a question to confirm. The scholarship pages say Coppin is currently offering test-optional admission, but the note on the admissions page still refers to 2023 applicants, so ask the admissions office what applies to your year. The page also lists priority deadlines for the fall and spring semesters, so check the current dates there before you plan.

Some majors take a second step. Nursing, health information management, social work and education each have their own admission requirements or application beyond admission to the university, so contact that department early.

The federal data shows Coppin admits about 46% of applicants. The middle half of students who submitted scores had SAT reading scores of 460 to 510 and math scores of 420 to 510. The admissions office can be reached at [email protected].

Paying for it

The first thing a family in Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska or Hawaii should know about is the Expand Eagle Nation program. New first-year and transfer students from more than 30 states and U.S. territories outside Maryland pay the same tuition rate as Maryland residents, for up to eight academic semesters, as long as they stay full-time and in good academic standing. The list on Coppin's page names all five of those states. You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and be admitted full-time to a degree program, and there is no separate application: eligibility is applied automatically when you are admitted. The Baltimore Banner reported that Coppin has the cheapest in-state tuition of any public four-year college in Maryland. Inside Higher Ed reported that the program was announced in 2023, and that 416 of about 1,000 incoming first-year students in fall 2025 came from qualifying states.

Coppin also offers merit scholarships. Every applicant to a degree program is considered automatically, though the awards are competitive and offered by invitation. For 2026 to 2027, the Gold first-year award needs a high school GPA of 3.0 and pays $5,000 a year for up to four years, and the Blue award needs 2.75 and pays $3,000 a year. The Presidential Scholarship, the university's highest merit award, covers tuition, fees, room and board plus up to $2,000 a year in books, and asks for a weighted GPA of 3.5 and an SAT of 1200 or ACT of 25. The Fanny Jackson Coppin Scholarship, for students enrolling in fall 2025 or later, covers tuition, fees and up to $1,000 a year in books and asks for a weighted GPA of 3.3 and an SAT of 1140 or ACT of 23. Both renew if you keep up your credits and grades, and both pages say resumes and recommendation letters may be considered in place of test scores.

The school also lists scholarships for athletics, dance, theater arts and the alumni association, the Maxie Collier Scholars Program and ROTC. Maryland residents can look at the Guaranteed Access Grant and the Delegate and Senatorial scholarships. File the FAFSA with Coppin's school code, 002068; the financial aid office's priority deadline for 2027 to 2028 aid is March 1, 2027. Then use the net price calculator on Coppin's financial aid site to see what your own family would pay.

Visiting

Coppin offers personally guided tours for individuals and families and group tours for school trips. You book them through the scheduling link on the campus tours page linked below. The admissions office that runs them is on the first floor of the Miles Connor Administration Building, open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday until 3 p.m. Elementary and middle school students are not allowed on tours at this time. If you cannot fly out yet, there is a virtual video tour on the same page.

The school says the tour covers campus landmarks and student resources and tells the story of its history. Ask to see the Talon Center, the College of Business building and the Henrietta Lacks Health and Human Services Building, home of the nursing school. Homecoming is held each February, if you want to time a visit to it. Also ask about housing, since the Banner reported on-campus rooms have been short as the school grew, and ask which residence you would be placed in.

Mondawmin station on the Baltimore Metro SubwayLink serves Coppin. Morgan State is close enough to visit on the same trip.

Who it fits

Coppin fits a student who wants a small, city-based HBCU and who is looking hard at cost. The Expand Eagle Nation rate lets a West Coast family pay the Maryland resident tuition rate, and Coppin also offers merit scholarships. It also fits students headed for nursing and other health fields, since nursing is its largest program, and students who want a school that does community work such as running a local elementary school and a charter high school.

It fits students who will use support. The Banner reported that almost 65% of Coppin students are the first in their families to attend college, and that the school has added embedded tutors, peer mentoring, advisor check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 credits, and six free summer credits for students who finish 30 credits in a year. A free summer program helps new students adjust before the first semester.

Ask hard questions about finishing. The federal graduation rate figure for Coppin is about 26%, which is low, and about 66% of first-year students return in the federal data. The Banner reported that retention rose to 71% in 2025, and it also reported the Banner reported a shortage of on-campus housing as enrollment grew. Ask the admissions office where you would live, what advising looks like, and what the school does to help students finish on time.

It may not suit a student who wants a quiet college-town setting or a very large campus with many majors. Wikipedia's entry on the neighboring Coppin Heights area describes vacant properties, low-income households, unemployment and crime, which the university's community development corporation works on, so visit in person and judge the setting for yourself.

Getting there from the West Coast

The nearest major commercial airport is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, known as BWI. Wikipedia places it about 9 miles south of downtown Baltimore and about 30 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. Coppin is in northwest Baltimore, so expect to cross the city after you land. Wikipedia lists nonstop service from BWI to West Coast cities including Seattle/Tacoma, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but check current routes with your airline.

From the airport you can reach Baltimore by light rail, which has a station next to Concourse E, or by Amtrak and MARC trains from the BWI rail station, which a free shuttle links to the terminal. In the city, the Metro SubwayLink runs to Mondawmin station, the northernmost underground station on the line, which opened in 1983 and serves Coppin. The campus address is 2500 West North Avenue.