Many HBCUs often punch above their weight in many categories, such as in looking at how many students they are able to graduate in comparison with what analyses might project or on how many of their alums go on to earn doctorates. Inherent in the idea of “punching above their weight” is how many HBCUs have done so much without nearly as much in the way of resources as some of their PWI brethren.
It now appears that the U.S. Department of Education has been doing an analysis of whether public HBCUs were receiving equitable funds from their state governments and, according to the feds, the answer seems to be negative.
All quotes below come from this article:
This part describes how the differentiated funding began and was able to become inequitable.
The funding disparity between historically Black and historically White land grant institutions traces back more than a century.
The first group of land-grant universities in the U.S. was established in 1862 under the First Morrill Act. Signed by Abraham Lincoln, that law bestowed federal lands upon states so the land could be sold to generate money for the colleges.
Under the Second Morrill Act of 1890, states could choose to open a second land-grant university specifically for Black students. They were required to give the same amount of state cash to the new schools as they gave to those created 28 years earlier. The older group of land-grant institutions has generally served more White students because most of them did not admit Black students until the Civil Rights Movement.
When the federal government gives Black land-grant universities money, states have to match that cash dollar-for-dollar. If they don’t, universities risk forfeiting the money altogether.
But advocates say that for the 1890 institutions, the required match has been the ceiling instead of the floor, leading the 1862 schools to receive funding at higher ratios. That’s partly because federal law lets states opt out of the match requirement for 1890 institutions and only contribute half in matching funds.
That means Southern has not been able to advance in ways on par with LSU, Louisiana’s original 1862 land-grant institution, the feds wrote in their letter.
It appears that this inequitable funding is in Louisiana as well as these other states:
Versions of the letter were also sent to the governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
At least 5 institutions lost at least $1 billion, as there was Southern plus these other 4 schools mentioned here:
Of the HBCUs in other states, only four were projected by the analysis to have missed out on more money than Southern. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University lost $1.9 billion; Tennessee State University lost $2.1 billion; Prairie View A&M University in Texas lost $1.135 billion; and North Carolina A&T State University lost $2 billion, according to letters to those states’ governors.
It will be interesting to see how the states react and what is done to rectify the situation.
