HBCU hearing highlights equitable responsibility for federal funding

October 6, 2021

By Keely Bastow 

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) advocates fought for more federal funding in a House Education and Labor subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, citing the centuries-long under investment by the government in these institutions.

“We ask you to invest in the institutions that need it the most,” Dr. Glenda Glover, president of Tennessee State University, an HBCU, told the Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee.

The hearing comes as groups such as the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and Council of 1890 Universities, a group of leaders of historically Black land-grant institutions, call out the Biden administration’s Build Back Better Act, an ambitious economic recovery plan, for reducing the amount invested in HBCUs from $55 to $30.5 billion, as reported in Inside Higher Education.

Despite the decades of underfunding, Subcommittee Chair Rep. Frederica Wilson from Florida (D) said these institutions have “achieved far more with far less.”

Dr. Andre Perry, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, testified that HBCUs were not allowed any state funding at their outset, and once they were, some lawmakers derailed the money, so it was never received.

Perry said that Tennessee State University was entitled to $500 million dollars in land-grant funding dating back to the 1950s that it never received, while the University of Tennessee, a predominately white institution, did, reported National Public Radio.

The witnesses testified that centuries of systemic discrimination have impacted the current financial situation of HBCUs.

Perry stated that the average wealth of Black households is far lower than white households, and this impacts the endowments of Black institutions and their students. Endowments rely on major donors, and with less wealth held by Black Americans, the number of possible major donors for HBCUs is more limited than for white institutions.

Perry said the total endowment for all HBCUs in 2019 was $3.9 billion, while the endowment for New York University alone was $4.3 billion.

The economic standing of possible donors is not the only thing that impacts HBCUs’ financing.

Lodriguez Murray, senior vice president of Public Policy and Government Affairs for the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), said in an interview that the economic status of students has an impact on the current standing of HBCUs, too.

“Three out of every four [students] come from economically underserved backgrounds… they are disadvantaged, underfunded and underinvested in.” Murray said. This affects how much HBCUs need support and financial aid for their students from the government.

Angela Sailor, vice president of the Edwin J. Feulner Foundation, agreed, stating that HBCUs’ business model depend more on tuition and financial aid than endowments, unlike their white college peers, like Harvard.

However, she disagreed with the idea that increased federal investment is the answer to this, and instead suggested that HBCUs diversify their revenue stream and attract private investors.

Ranking member Rep. Gregory Murphy from North Carolina agreed with this, saying “government intervention often times does more harm than good.”

He also suggested that “underperforming” institutions should not continue to be supported by federal money.

Perry challenged the supposition that HBCUs are underperforming by explaining that though HBCUs account for only 3% of higher education institutions, they matriculate 10% of Black graduates, and are the schools that 50% of Black judges attend.

Murray echoed this after the hearing, saying that HBCUs have long been “punching above their weight.”

He added that the United Negro College Fund does not think the Build Back Better Act goes far enough in funding HBCUs, and they are continuing to work with Congress for a “much more favorable outcome.”