Source: The 19th
Last month, the Biden-Harris administration announced $1.3 billion in federal funding to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
According to The White House, the investments include $188 million in competitive grants to HBCUs through the Department of Education, and $1.1 billion in funding to support students at HBCUs directly through need-based grants and other federal programs, including Pell Grants.
The historical investment, combined with the previously announced $16 billion, brings the total support to over $17 billion since 2021.
“That’s the most any administration has ever, ever, ever, ever committed,” President Joe Biden stated at the 2024 HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia.
Since entering the White House in 2021, the Biden-Harris administration has made significant investments towards HBCUs. The administration had also reestablished the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“We’re finally getting the recognition and funding that we deserve and desperately needed,” Antoine Mapp, a Cheney University graduate, told CBS News.
According to research from the UNCF, HBCUs generate more than $16.5 billion annually in economic impact on communities across the nation. In addition, the historical institutions create 136,000 jobs, and $146 billion in collective lifetime earnings for their graduates.
The 19th reports that under the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of Education has already given HBCUs about $25 million to improve research. The department also awarded $15 million in grants to equip students at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and HBCUs in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas to become teachers.
“This administration has supported HBCUs from day one,” Dietra Trent, executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs, told The 19th. “They do understand that HBCUs have the outsized burden of diversifying America’s workforce, and so the administration has taken the approach that we’re going to support them.”
