Leaders from the nation’s 105 historically black colleges have complained privately that President Barack Obama has allowed deep cuts in funding to black universities at a time when many of these institutions are struggling to survive.

At a meeting in Atlanta this summer, where presidents and senior administrators from more than 30 black colleges gathered, sources told BlackAmericaWeb.com that many participants grumbled about an $85 million reduction from the 2010 budget, funds that were specifically earmarked for historically black colleges.

The money is needed in large part to help keep some black colleges from possible foreclosures and others from considering staff layoffs, so representatives from black colleges say they will turn up the heat on Obama starting this month. 

"They plan to lobby the White House in a more concerted effort," said one black educator who attended last month’s meeting of black college presidents.

The presidents were willing to give Obama "the benefit of the doubt" because he's black, the source said, but they were also concerned that Obama does not have anyone in his "inner circle" who graduated from a historically black college to advise him on the critical - and immediate - needs of black institutions.

Lezli Baskerville, president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, which represents the nation’s HBCUs, wrote a letter to Obama in June saying that federal funding has not kept pace with the rising financial burdens of black colleges.

“The elimination of $85 million in mandatory institutional aid to HBCUs, even with the minimal increase you propose to the HBCU formula funding, would have adverse consequences for our institutions and run counter to your agenda, that we wholly embrace, of expanding educational access, affordability and accountability,” Baskerville wrote to Obama.

“We are disappointed ... that there was no request for the extension of the $85 million that is designed to strengthen HBCUs,” the letter said.

In her letter, Baskerville asked Obama for a meeting with several black college presidents to discuss funding, but the meeting has not taken place. (A White House aide said it could take several months for a letter to Obama to work its way through the system.) 

Black college educators say they are frustrated about the limited resources to teach their students and worry about the future of historically black universities.

But a senior White House advisor who requested anonymity told BlackAmericaWeb.com that Obama is not cutting funding to black colleges, but actually allocating more money.

The advisor said in 2007, during the Bush administration, Congress approved a two-year $170 million allocation for black colleges, and now the funding has expired.

He acknowledged the White House has heard the concerns of black college presidents, but said they were always aware of the process. 

"They knew this was a one-time allocation," the advisor said. "And to say the president is cutting funding to HBCUs is highly inaccurate."

The advisor, however, said Obama is committed to HBCUs and the education of black students, proved by the following initiatives:

· Increased Pell Grants for individual students to $5,500, up from $700 per student.

· Increased the "Perkins Loan" for low-income students from $1 billion to $5 billion.

· Increased the annual budget of HBCUs by five percent.

"To say the president is purposely undermining black institutions, when he understands the historical role that black colleges play in educating black students, is ridiculous," the White House advisor said.

Obama, the advisor said, will advocate for spending "billions of dollars" for college-bound low-income and minority students that will far exceed the initial $170 million from the two-year payout.

Today, 60 percent of students supported by the United Negro College Fund are the first in their families to attend college; 62 percent .....

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I really hope AMERICANS are paying close attention to the way some of the REPUBLICANS are acting. All across this country, they will ask questions but will not listen for the answers. Instead, they will make noise, trying to drown out the answers. They don't want to hear the answers. The so-call GOOD REPUBLICANS really need to speak to their counter parts and tell them to grow up and stop acting so silly and stupid.

by   
Misspat15
August 3, 2009, 8:56 pm
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This one-time allocation is actually 5 times bigger than all the support guaranteed by the Chimperor's junta for the whole 8 years that steeped countless higher ed institutions in debt and red tape. What HBCU aren't likely to see for a while are all the private grants and benevolent altruism that carried them over the hump during more properous times, thanks to Dumya tanking the global economy. The government is just not going to be able to make up that difference.

by   
Covertrage
August 3, 2009, 5:48 pm
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Uncletom thank you for reassuring me that ignorance is still running rampant. You get a gold star for representing. That means my income is stable in teaching people to rise above it.

by   
Momi4life
August 3, 2009, 11:47 am
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It wont matter because the kool-aid drinkers will still love him. The community colleges will get 5 times more federal aid than HBCU's. Now thats change you can believe in.

by   
Uncletom
August 3, 2009, 6:42 am
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