White House aims to boost HBCU funding

HBCU supporters across the nation are eagerly awaiting the outcome from the White House’s promise to seek increased funding for their institutions.

In an early version of his budget proposal, U.S. President Barack Obama denied a request to renew the HBCU grants in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA). The funds are designed to help HBCUs with their “academic resources, management capabilities, and physical plants.” It appropriates a total of $85M per year toward this purpose.

However, after hearing pleas from prominent HBCU advocates such as nationally syndicated talk show host Tom Joyner, Obama changed his position.

“I realize you're dealing with a budget that's in the trillions of dollars, but let me tell you, as a long time supporter and cheerleader for black colleges, literally every single dollar helps to keep their doors open at these institutions,” Joyner said in an open letter to president.

U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan said that the White House is now looking to extend the $85M HBCU grant for another ten years and bump up base funding to HBCUs.

“On the institutional side to help the HBCUs directly, the base funding [of $233 million], we are trying to take the amount of $233 million to $283 million, an increase of $50 million, and then Congressman [George] Miller, who has provided great leadership in the House, his proposal [is] to add another $85 million to HBCUs annually for the next 10 years. That could take the support of HBCUs to $135 million a year, which would be a historic increase and the most money ever,” Duncan told the Tom Joyner Show in September.

As Rattler Nation reported in June, FAMU stood to be the biggest loser if the grant wasn’t extended. In 2008, FAMU netted the largest HBCU CCRAA grant: $2,002,165. FAMU is using the money to upgrade Enterprise Resource Technology, library multimedia, and instructional technology.