President Biden's $3.5 trillion spending bill was set to provide $45 billion to HBCUs and additional minority-serving institutions (MSIs). But due to Democratic infighting, the newest version of the bill only allocates $2 billion to HBCUs.
HBCUs are now expected to receive $1.45 billion in funding between 2022 and 2026. In addition, HBCUs are at risk of not being directly funded as the government is considering changing the funding into a competitive grant.
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"The number is just significantly lower than what we had hoped for," said Fort Valley State University's President, Paul Jones, to Inside HigherEd. "Along with the minority-serving institutions and the Hispanic-serving institutions, it's really sort of lumping us all into this one sector when we all have tremendous needs."
Despite HBCUs receiving millions in donations this past year from multiple companies and billionaires, such as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' ex-wife Mackenzie Scott, some of the colleges have sued the states they reside in due to underfunding.
Earlier this year, the state of Maryland settled a discrimination lawsuit launched by Coppin State University, Bowie State University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2006. The settlement was reportedly $577 million.
The president of Philander Smith College in Arkansas said the school was able to survive the pandemic due to the federal relief money it received. However, he claimed the money proposed in Biden's original plan would have had a positive, long-term effect.
"We used the funds that we received to serve the students that we have, and now we're asking for additional funds to make sure that when we are on the other side of this global pandemic our institutions will be bigger and better and more resilient," Smothers said.
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