(WCMH) — With the swearing in of Vice President Kamala Harris, there’s a lot of pride in the air on the campuses of historically black colleges and universities.

Vice President Harris graduated from Howard University, located in the heart of Washington DC.

Enrollment is up at the more than 100 HBCUs across the country, including Wilberforce and Central State University in Ohio.

“You just feel this cultural connection,” said Kevin Carter, who works at NBC4. “When I stepped in the campus, I can remember freshman week we had a big meeting in the auditorium and I could feel so much pride. And I could just feel that the instructors really wanted me to succeed and they were really vested in my success. And from that moment, I knew this is where I was supposed to me.

Lolita Augenstein says the HBCU experience is different. She grew up in Columbus and graduated from high school with honors. No one in her family went off to college, so she had to. She says she didn’t have to attend a HBCU, but she ended up at Central State University in Xenia because they gave her a scholarship.

“When I got to Central State, that was the first time I loved being black, because I saw all these black people from different walks of life doing different things and they were beautiful,” said Augenstein.

University presidents say enrollment at HBCUs has been increasing since the death of George Floyd, and since Kamala Harris was elected. Students want to reconnect with their roots and be a part of the excellence and success stories that these schools are known for.

Going to college and staying long enough to graduate has always been the goal at black schools, students on campus say. It’s just different being there and it goes way beyond the lessons learned in the classrooms.