President Bush's 2009 education budget proposal would slash $85 million in funds earmarked for historically black colleges and universities, reports Amanda Lehmert of North Carolina-based news-record.com.
The budget proposal essentially cancels an increase for those
schools provided by the 2007 College Cost Reduction Act in September.
That was the first increase in funding the Department of Education's
Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities program has
received since 2005.
Higher education leaders said they will wait out the legislative
process to see how the schools fare once the budget moves through the
Democrat-controlled Congress. They wonder what the cut could mean for
the grant program's future.
"The HBCU community, it's safe to say, they would be
disappointed but not necessarily surprised," said Edith Bartley,
director of government affairs at the United Negro College Fund.
The $238 million grant program provides funding to 96 federally
recognized schools that have historically served black students. The
money is allocated based on a school's amount of recent graduates, the
number of low-income students and how many students go on to graduate
programs. The federal funds may be used to for campus facilities,
improve academics or enhance a school's endowment.
Posted By: Jehan Bunch
Wednesday, February 27th 2008 at 12:06PM
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