The purpose of this study was to identify ways that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the state of Mississippi could provide better financial support to African-American college students that were raised in rural areas. This research also explained why the retention rate of African-American college students declined, while giving HBCUs different ways to retain African-American college students on their campuses. This research accessed the different ways that African-Americans needed financial support while enrolled in college, while also comparing them to the personal financial obligations that African-American college students had as well. This quantitative study used a survey-style research design with a thematic analysis approach given to currently enrolled and recently graduated college students to identify the financial struggles that they faced while they were in college. The researcher used prior research to identify likely themes, which included financial counseling, monetary support, and outside stress which was used to generate codes (Demos, 2016; Ashford, 2019; Bridges, 2022). In the recommendation, it discussed ways that African-American college students could benefit from better financial assistance given to them by their institution. As displayed in the results, if African-American college students had better financial support while attending college, they would be able to complete their degree. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]