Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) continue to face challenges maintaining institutional accreditation in comparison to Predominately White Institutions (PWI). Historically Black colleges and universities represent 16% of the SACS membership, but accounted for 50% of the colleges and universities that lost accreditation over a nineteen-year period. The problem that this study sought to understand from the institutional administrator's perspective and lived experience is that HBCUs have received a disproportionate number of accreditation warnings or complete loss of accreditation over a protracted period of time relative to non-Black colleges and universities, and there are no explanations for this disparity in the research literature. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify and describe the reasons HBCUs continue to receive warnings or completely lose institutional accreditation, using the perspectives and experiences of the institutional administrators. The researcher drew a purposive snowball sample of nine HBCU institutional administrators and conducted semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that HBCU administrators believe that the main cause of the unsuccessful accreditation and issues experienced by HBCUs involve financial restrictions. Additionally, 33% of the participants reported concerns regarding the capabilities of the HBCU boards. The results also indicated that HBCUs suffer from a lack of resources. The institutional administrators recommended coordination and collaboration between skilled members, an assessment focus, clear communication of the importance of the assessment by leadership, adherence to the standards for accreditation, and a culture of accountability and transparency. Future research of this phenomenon may be extended to include a larger sample of HBCUs; future research may also include the perspectives of stakeholders of PWIs, in order to establish what factors lead to successful outcomes of the reaccreditation process. The results may be used to aid policymakers and administrators in modifying policy and processes. [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://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]