The Senate’s failure to renew $255 million in annual mandatory funding for historically black colleges is already having consequences on campuses, wrote Harry L. Williams, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, in a letter to lawmakers Monday.
The group, which represents public historically black colleges, had called on the Senate to pass the FUTURE Act, which would have provided a short-term extension of Title III, Part F, funds that pay for STEM education at HBCUs. Senator Lamar Alexander, the GOP chairman of the Senate education committee, blocked the bill from passing on a voice vote before those funds expired on Sept. 30.
Alexander proposed that the Senate instead pass a package of higher ed bills that included a 10-year extension of the HBCU funding. Democrats, who want to reach a deal on a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, rejected the offer.
In his letter, Williams said TMCF has already seen examples of member colleges notifying employees that their positions or programs will be terminated by Sept. 30, 2020, or sooner if the funding is not reauthorized.