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FAMU is one of a handful of HBCUs that will receive a share of a $60 million gift from Blue Meridian Partners designed to help drive the long term progress of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The specific focus of the gift is three-fold --- to increase enrollment, improve student retention and graduation rates, and increase staff capacity.
The gift is made possible by a partnership between The Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the United Negro College Fund, and Partnership for Education Advancement.
According to the group 70% of the students who attend HBCUs are eligible for Pell Grants, which means they're from low-income families. 40% of the students are the first in their families to go to college.
“They want to move from poverty into the middle class, and they know that the best way to do that is to get a college degree and to have a 21st century career,” says Dr. Michael L. Lomax, President and CEO of UNCF. “So we know that scholarship support is going to be critically important - and growing the endowments of these institutions - so that they have resources that they can then invest in strategies.”
Lomax says 21st century careers “require post-secondary credentials and degrees, are technology driven, require strong communications skills, critical thinking, working in teams collaboratively, and continuous learning.”
They believe there's a potential $10 billion boost annually in growth in the Black economy if the HBCU Transformation Project can help accelerate the number of Black college graduates.
FAMU is among the first 20 HBCU's to gain access to funding from the HBCU Transformation Project and will have immediate access to the funds.