Feds reveal HBCUs have been underfunded by $12 billion

Special to the Peacemaker / October 13, 2023

Federal officials told 16 states that they’ve been underfunding their Historically Black Colleges and Universities by some $12 billion. Tennessee State University had the biggest loss.

North Carolina A&T State University finds itself at the top of a list that appears to be a serious indictment on unequal education — in the state and elsewhere.

The historically Black university was “cheated” out of $2.8 billion in money it should have received as one of two schools in North Carolina founded as federal land-grant institutions, according to a Feb. 1 report published by Forbes magazine. The publication found that in total, historically Black land-grant schools have been underfunded by at least $12.8 billion compared to their predominantly White counterparts.

Notably, the time period of the Forbes report does not stretch back into the Jim Crow era, from the 1870s to the 1960s, where segregation and open discrimination against Black Americans was the norm. The period covered by the report is from 1987 until 2020. In other words, this apparent discrimination in funding occurred after the Civil Rights movement when all relevant authorities were fully aware of racism’s harmful legacy in U.S. history.

Stay tuned.