The 2008 budget would freeze funding for HBCUs at $296 million and Hispanic-serving institutions at $95 million. But in addition to the tribal college reduction, the plan would eliminate a $12 million program to help colleges serving large numbers of Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students.
Tucker said cuts in smaller programs – as well as termination of ineffective initiatives – would provide significant funds for larger, far-reaching initiatives. The Pell Grant initiative would provide $21.9 billion over the next five years, with a goal for a $5,400 maximum grant by 2012. The administration also would spend an additional $1 billion on Academic Competitiveness grants to college freshmen who have completed a rigorous high school curriculum.
But Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., argued that HBCUs in particular face ever-increasing needs that are not well served by a budget freeze. In California, she said, the end of affirmative action in undergraduate admissions has prompted many minority students to consider and enroll in HBCUs.
“The higher education system [in California] has abandoned them,” she said. As for HBCUs, “They now have tremendous burdens on them.”
--Charles Dervarics
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
