In a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus and caucuses for Hispanics and American Indians, presidents of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities joined AIHEC executive director Gerald Gipp in opposing the cut.
The letter, signed by Gipp, NAFEO President Lezli Baskerville and HACU President Antonio Flores, noted that tribal colleges depend greatly on federal funds, since they are located on federal lands and receive little or no state funding.
“While we applaud any effort to increase the maximum amount of Pell Grant awards to improve access to higher education for low-income students, to do so at the expense of federal support for the very institutions that disproportionately educate low-income, chronically underserved students is, in our judgment, terribly misguided,” the letter stated.
Neither HBCUs nor HSIs would receive increases in the president’s new budget. Support for HBCUs would remain at $296 million under the plan, while funding for HSIs would remain level at $95 million.
The president’s 2008 budget is now on Capitol Hill, where congressional budget and appropriations committees will hold hearings. The 2008 fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
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