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This Padlet is part of our teaching session on the racial consequences of underfunded universities. Read the article excerpt below and respond to one of the prompts

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 "Black colleges ponder their future as Trump makes cuts to education dollars"

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 "Black colleges ponder their future as Trump makes cuts to education dollars"

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Recent discussions have focused on how federal and state governments can address funding inequities. Proposals include targeted funding increases and policy shifts to ensure HBCUs and MSIs are better supported. How might federal budget cuts impact the sustainability and growth of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)?​

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Black colleges ponder their future as Trump makes cuts to education dollars • Missouri Independent

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The nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs, are wondering how to survive in an uncertain and contentious educational climate as the Trump administration downsizes the scope and purpose of the U.S. Department of Education — while cutting away at federal funding for higher education. In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive […]

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“We’re still decades behind in what we deserve.” – HBCU President

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“We’re still decades behind in what we deserve.” – HBCU President

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This quote highlights how some HBCUs still struggle to receive fair funding compared to other institutions.

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The funding gaps between historically Black colleges and those that primarily serve white students hit close to home for Nyabi Stevens, who graduated this spring from Florida A&M University.

The state of Florida is estimated to have denied FAMU nearly $2 billion in state funding since 1987, just one example of the deep and longstanding funding disparities between HBCUs and predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Florida State University is less than a mile away from FAMU's campus, separated by just a railroad.

"Once you look across tracks you notice it is a completely different world," said Stevens, a psychology major. "FAMU doesn't have as large of a landscape or the notability that FSU has when it comes to things like sports, education, jobs, and opportunities."

Stevens has noticed the funding gap in her classroom too. Some of her classrooms lack equipment. The computers on campus are decades old.

The second Morrill Act of 1890 - following the first which created white land-grant institutions - required states to establish separate land-grant institutions for Black students, and equally distribute funds by a one-to-one match.

That hasn't really happened. Steven Mobley, an associate professor at Morgan State University who studies HBCUs, previously told Open Campus that the institutions are "legislated into poverty."

"HBCUs are treated just like Black people. Black is in the name - it can't be ignored," he said.

President Joe Biden's administration has delivered more than $16 billion in funding and investments to HBCUs since fiscal year 2021. HBCUs are a vital engine of mobility for graduates, and despite making up a small portion of colleges in the U.S., they account for 8% of Black undergraduates and 13% of all bachelor's degrees earned by Black students, the White House said.

Last year, the administration wrote to 16 governors, urging them to rectify the disparate funding. The funding gap between HBCUs and PWIs is about $12.6 billion over the past 30 years, they said.

[ Read more: HBCU underfunding stretches more than a century: Morgan State professor]

Stevens was among a group of students who filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of Florida in 2022. The student plaintiffs argued that the state has systematically segregated its higher education system. However, in January a federal judge threw out the lawsuit over a lack of evidence of de jure segregation, which is the separation of people based on law.

But some land-grant HBCUs have been successful in their quest for equal funding. In 2021, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed a law agreeing to pay several state land-grant HBCUs what they are owed, putting to rest a 15-year-long legal battle.

The state agreed to pay Bowie State, Coppin State, Morgan State, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore $577 million over the next decade.

Attorney Carlos Moore is representing alumni and students from three Georgia HBCUs - Fort Valley State, Albany State, and Savannah State University - who are hoping to reach a similar victory.

"We are helping to rectify some wrongs that exist," he told Open Campus. Moore said in April that he was planning to file a lawsuit against the universities. He didn't return a request for additional comment.

Last fall, a group of Democrats in Congress released a bill ( H.R. 5780) that would require governors to publicly attest to whether or not they plan to fund their land-grant HBCUs.

The bill would ensure that land-grant HBCUs have the funds they need to train the next generation of leaders, Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), one of the co-sponsors of the legislation and a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, said in a press release.

Greg Nasif, the press secretary for Adams, said that the bill is a "marker bill" for the Farm Bill, which Congress is supposed to renew every five years. A marker bill is a measure that lawmakers introduced in the hopes of seeing it attached to a broader piece of legislation, such as the Farm Bill.

Denise Smith, deputy director of higher education policy for The Century Foundation who has worked with more than 200 colleges and universities, said there is no "accountability mechanism" holding states accountable to equally funding PWIs and HBCUs.

State-level legislation could change that, but "I don't think that there is a desire to rewrite, or even dig up legislation," Smith said.

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HBCU funding is 'a completely different world' compared to predominantly white institutions - Open Campus

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Florida A&M University, like other HBCUs, has faced decades of underfunding.

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Respond to one of the following prompts in your post below:

What surprised you most about the quote or topic?

How do you think underfunding affects student success in the long term?

If you were a policymaker, what change would you make to support HBCUs/MSIs?

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This infographic shows how student debt affects HBCU students. What stands out to you? https://uncf.org/pages/infographic-fewer-resources-more-debt-loan-debt-burdens-students-at-hbcus