Higher education is promoted as the path to economic mobility. Young minds are told that a college degree will open doors and lead to greater financial stability. While this may be the case for some, members of marginalized groups have very different experiences. In this chapter, we discuss the economic, social, and institutional barriers to the academic and professional success of Black women, including: unequal pay, hostile campus climates, and a lack of representation in faculty and administrative roles. Using quantitative data, personal experiences, and scenes from John Singleton’s 1995 film Higher Learning, we demonstrate that although the number of Black women in higher education has increased over the last 30 years, the barriers to their success remain relatively unchanged.