From Campus to Classroom: Stories That Shape Education
- UNCF praises a significant federal funding boost benefiting HBCUs through reprogrammed discretionary funds.
- The increase supports the Strengthening HBCUs, Strengthening Historically Black Graduate Institutions, and HBCU Master’s Degree programs.
- Lodriguez V. Murray calls the infusion transformative but notes HBCUs remain historically under-resourced.
- The funding, via Title III, will finance property, construction, maintenance, lab equipment, faculty, and student services.
- UNCF urges private sector partners to invest to ensure long-term fiscal stability and growth for HBCUs.
This morning, the Department of Education redirected $435 million of previous discretionary funding to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
When added to the existing appropriations approved by Congress for HBCUs, the total award now stands at $1.38 billion for fiscal year 2025, a 48% increase over the previous amount.
This funding is added to the following programs: the Strengthening HBCUs program, the Strengthening historically black graduate institutions program, and the HBCU master’s degree program. UNCF supports reprogramming the funding.
“This additional funding is nothing short of a godsend for HBCUs,” said Lodriguez V. Murray, UNCF’s senior vice president for public policy and government affairs. “We are grateful to have worked with the Trump Administration, Secretary McMahon, and her Department of Education team in achieving this one-time infusion of grant funding.”
“When President Trump released his executive order for HBCUs during his first 100 days of this term,” Murray elaborated, “many said that it did not produce funding. That is no longer the case. His order called for strengthening HBCUs by adding fiscal stability. These funds will begin that process. However, no one should be confused: HBCUs are currently and have been underfunded since their inception. While we are grateful for these funds, we are still under-resourced. With the right investment and partners, our past, and present, does not have be our future. We hope the private sector will see this as a prime opportunity to invest in our going enterprise.”
“This funding mechanism, called ‘Title III,’ is considered the most essential out of all federal grants for HBCUs,” continued Murray. “To nearly double that funding will have unprecedented positive impacts on our institutions this year. The additional funding will be used for acquiring property, construction, campus maintenance, laboratory equipment, faculty support, student services and more as authorized by the Higher Education Act.”
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