Since riding to the White House on the support of Black voters, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris—an HBCU graduate herself—have placed a greater emphasis on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions than any administration in American history. In May, the Biden–Harris administration announced that over the course of their term, they had invested more than $16 billion in HBCUs, including over $11 billion in federal grants and debt relief and $4 billion in federal financial aid.
Biden and Harris are not the only ones investing in HBCUs. During the pandemic, we saw remarkable investments in HBCUs from philanthropists, including significant donations to bolster HBCUs’ endowments. MacKenzie Scott gave $400 million to HBCUs, and earlier this year, Spelman College in Georgia announced they were receiving a donation of $100 million from businesswoman and philanthropist Ronda Stryker and her husband, William Johnston—the largest-ever single donation to an HBCU. This news followed a $100 million donation from the Lilly Endowment to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), to be shared among the thirty-seven private HBCUs that are members of UNCF. These gifts together total $620 million, demonstrating that some philanthropists have recognized the dire need among HBCUs for endowment funding.
While we applaud these gifts, they are just a drop in the bucket compared to the investments that non-HBCUs receive.
While philanthropy is showing up, its contributions are not adequate to address the vast disparities between HBCUs and other institutions: while we applaud these gifts, they are just a drop in the bucket compared to the investments that non-HBCUs receive. In a 2023 report, Candid and AFBE found the average Ivy League institution received 178 times more foundation funding than the average HBCU. Additionally, from 2015 to 2019, Ivy League schools received a combined $5.5 billion in philanthropic dollars compared to HBCUs’ $303 million. We are already seeing a 100-percent increase in giving over the last few years with the three aforementioned donations; yet, there is more to be done to support the sustainability of HBCUs.
Supporting HBCUs is not just a good investment: it’s popular, too.
There is good reason to invest in HBCUs, which have a proven track record of success and serve as catalysts for racial equity. These institutions make up just 3 percent of all colleges and universities, but produce 40 percent of all Black engineers, 50 percent of all Black teachers, 70 percent of all Black doctors and dentists, and 80 percent of all Black judges. They also serve two-times as many Pell-eligible students as non-HBCU schools, and HBCU students are 51 percent more likely to move into a higher-income quintile than graduates of non-HBCUs.
This is in spite of the fact that, since opening their doors, HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions have been shortchanged tens of billions of federal dollars for their endowments relative to predominantly white institutions. This has resulted in students and parents taking on higher interest loans to cover costs, facilities falling into disrepair, and difficulty recruiting and retaining top faculty. Those investments not only never arrived, and as a consequence have failed to mature and compound through reinvestment, an advantage from which other endowments enjoy. HBCUs also experience barriers to developing a sound endowment fund. For instance, many of the gifts that HBCUs receive are restricted, and to be used as the donor intended, versus the needs of the college or university.
As if all of this wasn’t reason enough for increased and more sustainable investment in HBCUs, it’s also incredibly popular across the country. Polling by The Century Foundation and Morning Consult found that most Americans agree that it’s important for Congress to make sure the federal funding for HBCUs is equivalent to that given to other colleges and universities. Specifically, more than half of U.S. adults support Congress creating a fund to bolster the endowments of HBCUs, while only 18 percent would oppose such a plan.
Figure 1.
Source: TCF and Morning Consult.
Among Democrats and Black voters, funding parity is even more popular. A strong plurality of both groups “strongly agree” that Congress should prioritize leveling the playing field for HBCUs when it comes to federal funding. Even a majority of independents and a plurality of Republicans agree on funding parity.
Figure 2.
Source: TCF and Morning Consult.
The whole benefit of an endowment is that the money continues to grow, allowing institutions to dip into those funds to make long-term investments. In particular, healthy endowment funds enable universities to make long-term investments in their infrastructure. Unfortunately, due to the limited funds in HBCU endowments, these institutions have often been forced to use their limited funds to address deferred maintenance needs of older buildings instead of building new facilities. A well-managed endowment allows a draw-down of 4 percent to 5 percent annually to be used for scholarships, deferred maintenance, faculty salaries, and other institutional needs.
Most Americans agree that Congress should make it a top priority to ensure that HBCUs receive equal funding to other colleges and universities.
HBCUs need to be able to do these things as much as their peer institutions do. And so it’s no surprise that a wide swath of Americans believe we should be doing more to enable them to do so. Specifically, our polling found that most Americans agree that Congress should make it a top priority to ensure that HBCUs receive equal funding to other colleges and universities. Furthermore, half of U.S. adults support Congress creating a fund to bolster the endowments of HBCUs, while only 18 percent would oppose such a plan.
Figure 3.
Source: TCF and Morning Consult
TCF’s report, “Achieving Financial Equity and Justice for HBCUs,” examines the endowments of HBCUs and documents the history of funding inequities and undervaluation that have led to smaller endowments. Additionally, the report includes policy analysis that makes the case for how and why the federal government can and must create an endowment fund. The key takeaway is that both policy and politics agree on this one: Congress should prioritize investing in HBCUs going forward by creating an endowment fund, thereby fulfilling our obligations to Black students, the institutions that serve them and our communities, and further fortifying these institutions into the twenty-second century.
Tags: higher education funding, HBCU, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, uni
Americans Support Fully Endowing HBCUs. Now Is the Time to Do So.
Since riding to the White House on the support of Black voters, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris—an HBCU graduate herself—have placed a greater emphasis on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions than any administration in American history. In May, the Biden–Harris administration announced that over the course of their term, they had invested more than $16 billion in HBCUs, including over $11 billion in federal grants and debt relief and $4 billion in federal financial aid.
Biden and Harris are not the only ones investing in HBCUs. During the pandemic, we saw remarkable investments in HBCUs from philanthropists, including significant donations to bolster HBCUs’ endowments. MacKenzie Scott gave $400 million to HBCUs, and earlier this year, Spelman College in Georgia announced they were receiving a donation of $100 million from businesswoman and philanthropist Ronda Stryker and her husband, William Johnston—the largest-ever single donation to an HBCU. This news followed a $100 million donation from the Lilly Endowment to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), to be shared among the thirty-seven private HBCUs that are members of UNCF. These gifts together total $620 million, demonstrating that some philanthropists have recognized the dire need among HBCUs for endowment funding.
While philanthropy is showing up, its contributions are not adequate to address the vast disparities between HBCUs and other institutions: while we applaud these gifts, they are just a drop in the bucket compared to the investments that non-HBCUs receive. In a 2023 report, Candid and AFBE found the average Ivy League institution received 178 times more foundation funding than the average HBCU. Additionally, from 2015 to 2019, Ivy League schools received a combined $5.5 billion in philanthropic dollars compared to HBCUs’ $303 million. We are already seeing a 100-percent increase in giving over the last few years with the three aforementioned donations; yet, there is more to be done to support the sustainability of HBCUs.
Supporting HBCUs is not just a good investment: it’s popular, too.
There is good reason to invest in HBCUs, which have a proven track record of success and serve as catalysts for racial equity. These institutions make up just 3 percent of all colleges and universities, but produce 40 percent of all Black engineers, 50 percent of all Black teachers, 70 percent of all Black doctors and dentists, and 80 percent of all Black judges. They also serve two-times as many Pell-eligible students as non-HBCU schools, and HBCU students are 51 percent more likely to move into a higher-income quintile than graduates of non-HBCUs.
This is in spite of the fact that, since opening their doors, HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions have been shortchanged tens of billions of federal dollars for their endowments relative to predominantly white institutions. This has resulted in students and parents taking on higher interest loans to cover costs, facilities falling into disrepair, and difficulty recruiting and retaining top faculty. Those investments not only never arrived, and as a consequence have failed to mature and compound through reinvestment, an advantage from which other endowments enjoy. HBCUs also experience barriers to developing a sound endowment fund. For instance, many of the gifts that HBCUs receive are restricted, and to be used as the donor intended, versus the needs of the college or university.
As if all of this wasn’t reason enough for increased and more sustainable investment in HBCUs, it’s also incredibly popular across the country. Polling by The Century Foundation and Morning Consult found that most Americans agree that it’s important for Congress to make sure the federal funding for HBCUs is equivalent to that given to other colleges and universities. Specifically, more than half of U.S. adults support Congress creating a fund to bolster the endowments of HBCUs, while only 18 percent would oppose such a plan.
Figure 1.
Source: TCF and Morning Consult.
Among Democrats and Black voters, funding parity is even more popular. A strong plurality of both groups “strongly agree” that Congress should prioritize leveling the playing field for HBCUs when it comes to federal funding. Even a majority of independents and a plurality of Republicans agree on funding parity.
Figure 2.
Source: TCF and Morning Consult.
The whole benefit of an endowment is that the money continues to grow, allowing institutions to dip into those funds to make long-term investments. In particular, healthy endowment funds enable universities to make long-term investments in their infrastructure. Unfortunately, due to the limited funds in HBCU endowments, these institutions have often been forced to use their limited funds to address deferred maintenance needs of older buildings instead of building new facilities. A well-managed endowment allows a draw-down of 4 percent to 5 percent annually to be used for scholarships, deferred maintenance, faculty salaries, and other institutional needs.
HBCUs need to be able to do these things as much as their peer institutions do. And so it’s no surprise that a wide swath of Americans believe we should be doing more to enable them to do so. Specifically, our polling found that most Americans agree that Congress should make it a top priority to ensure that HBCUs receive equal funding to other colleges and universities. Furthermore, half of U.S. adults support Congress creating a fund to bolster the endowments of HBCUs, while only 18 percent would oppose such a plan.
Figure 3.
Source: TCF and Morning Consult
TCF’s report, “Achieving Financial Equity and Justice for HBCUs,” examines the endowments of HBCUs and documents the history of funding inequities and undervaluation that have led to smaller endowments. Additionally, the report includes policy analysis that makes the case for how and why the federal government can and must create an endowment fund. The key takeaway is that both policy and politics agree on this one: Congress should prioritize investing in HBCUs going forward by creating an endowment fund, thereby fulfilling our obligations to Black students, the institutions that serve them and our communities, and further fortifying these institutions into the twenty-second century.
Tags: higher education funding, HBCU, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, uni