The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) issued a statement thanking House Appropriations chair Nita Lowey, D-NY, and House Appropriations Labor-HHS Subcommittee chair Rosa DeLauro, D-CT, for proposing a historic investment in historically Black colleges and universities in the House version of the Labor-HHS FY20 appropriations bill.
The bill would provide $375 million in direct funding for HBCUs, an increase of $93 million. It also includes an additional $10 million to be invested in the HBCU Capital Financing Program to allow public HBCUs to participate in the loan-modification option that previously was available only to private institutions, an effort the TMCF was involved in over the past year.
TMCF, which represents the 47 publicly supported HBCUs, also lauded the spending proposal’s benefits to higher education overall. The legislation increases the maximum Pell grant by $150 per student, provides a $304-million increase in the Federal Work Study program and increases overall investment in the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant by $188 million.
The TMCF encouraged the House to pass the appropriations bill and the Senate to consider similar investments in HBCUs and its students in that legislative body’s version of the bill.
