NPR: Historic Federal Funding of HBCUs Coincides With Rise of State Funding Shortfalls
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NPR: Historic Federal Funding of HBCUs Coincides With Rise of State Funding Shortfalls
From NPR …
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Tony Allen, Delaware State University president and chairman of the Biden administration's Board of Advisors on HBCUs, about the funding shortfall HBCUs have faced.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Twelve billion dollars - 12 billion. According to the Department of Education, that is the funding shortfall between historically Black land grant colleges and their predominantly white counterparts in 16 states. By law, they are supposed to be funded equitably. The gap is sparking protests, also sparking lawsuits. Meanwhile, calls to write decades of underfunding of historically Black colleges and universities, HBCUs, at the state level coincide with a rise in federal funding. I want to bring Tony Allen into the conversation. He is president of Delaware State University, which is an HBCU. He also chairs President Biden's Board of Advisors on HBCUs. President Allen, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
TONY ALLEN: Hey, Mary Louise. How are you doing?
KELLY: I am doing all right. I am wondering how all this is playing out on your campus. I noticed that, happily, Delaware is not on the list of states where major funding discrepancies have been documented. But I'm guessing your students and faculty are watching all this pretty closely.
ALLEN: They are. And I would tell you, if you put this in context, I think the report you're referring to comes from 1987 to 2020. If you really included the the whole of our existence, the disparities are still significant. But we are making good progress in that regard. For my sister institutions, that $13 billion is a real number. It has meaningful impact on their campuses every day.