Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces $1.3 Billion in Additional Funding and a Record of Over $17 Billion in Total Support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

On September 17, the Biden-Harris Administration announced additional federal investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) totaling $1.3 billion. With these new investments, combined with the previously announced $16 billion in total federal investments in HBCUs, the Biden-Harris Administration has set another record of over $17 billion in federal investments in HBCUs from Fiscal Years (FY) 2021 through current available data for FY 2024.
 
Investments in HBCUs continue to be one of the most powerful engines of economic mobility for students and their families and have proven to more than pay for themselves. Despite representing only 3% of colleges and universities, HBCUs provide college access to twice as many Pell Grant-eligible low- and middle- income students as non-HBCU institutions. HBCUs have produced an astonishing 40% of all Black engineers, 50% of all Black teachers, 70% of all Black doctors and dentists, 80% of all Black judges, and the first Black American and first woman to be Vice President of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris. HBCUs foster more upward mobility than most US colleges: about 30% of HBCU students move up at least two income quintiles compared to 18% for non HBCUs. And research by the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) found that, compared to the Ivy League and other top-ranked non-HBCU institutions, HBCUs help more than five times as many students move from the bottom 40% to the top 60% of U.S. household.
 
A report by the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) published in May further underscores this point. The report found that, even in the face of historic underfunding, HBCU enrollment was associated with an increased likelihood of completing a bachelor’s degree and higher household income, and noted that HBCUs have seen a surge in applications and enrollment in recent years – indicating that students increasingly recognize and appreciate their value.
 
But beyond just serving as an engine of economic mobility for students and their families, HBCUs make a substantial contribution to the national economy. New research by the UNCF finds that HBCUs generate $16.5 billion annually in economic impact on communities across the United States, as well as over 136,000 jobs, and $146 billion in collective lifetime earnings for their graduates.
 
As a component of this outsized economic impact, HBCUs play a significant role in the research and development (R&D) that drives vital progress in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). As such, the Biden-Harris Administration has made it a priority to expand the capacity of HBCUs to offer high quality STEM education programs and to compete for federal R&D dollars. In the first six months of the Administration, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act – which requires federal research agencies to provide funding and other support for expanding the R&D capacity of HBCUs. The Biden-Harris Administration has worked diligently to implement this law.
 
The Biden Harris Administration has advanced racial equity, economic opportunity, and educational excellence through HBCUs since Day One, including by reestablishing the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The Biden-Harris Administration is the most diverse administration in history and many members are HBCU graduates, including Vice President Kamala Harris,  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Willie Phillips.
 
The additional $1.3 billion in federal investments announced today will further build on the Administration’s commitments and on HBCUs’ demonstrated track record of delivering excellence. These investments include:

• $188 million in competitive grants to HBCUs through the Department of Education, including grants that will support R&D capacity building.
   
• $1.1 billion in funding to support students at HBCUs directly through need-based grants and other federal programs, including Pell Grants.

While there is more work to be done, the Biden-Harris Administration continues to build on an unprecedented track record of delivering for HBCUs and the students and communities they serve:
 

• The Department of Defense U.S. Air Force established the first-ever HBCU-led University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). Led by Howard University with seven other HBCUs and funded at $90 million over five years, this program will focus on advancing the deployment of autonomous technologies for Air Force missions. Participating HBCUs include Bowie State University, Delaware State University, Florida Memorial University, Hampton University, Jackson State University, Norfolk State University, Tuskegee University, and Tougaloo College.
   
• The Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration established the first-ever Connecting-Minority-Communities program delivering funding for 43 HBCUs to purchase high-speed internet, purchase equipment, and hire IT personnel to tackle the digital divide impacting HBCUs.
   
• The Department of Commerce CHIPS for America hosted the launch of the HBCU CHIPS Network, a collaboration of several HBCUs and the Georgia Institute of Technology to increase the coordination of the resources at HBCUs and jointly contribute to workforce and research development needs of the semiconductor industry. Chips are critical in powering our consumer electronics, automobiles, data centers, critical infrastructure, and virtually all military systems.
   
• The Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will provide $4.2 million in grant funding to HBCUs, through the EPP/MSI Cooperative Science Center program.
   
• The Department of Agriculture announced a $262.5 million investment to support 33 projects across U.S. institutions of higher education designed to train the next generation of diverse agricultural professionals. Through the USDA NextGen program, the projects are led by 1890 land-grant institutions (historically Black land-grant universities), 1994 land-grant institutions (Tribal Colleges and Universities, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)), and institutions of higher education located in the Insular Areas. This historic investment will provide training and support to more than 20,000 future food and agricultural leaders through 33 projects executed by more than 60 institutions across 24 states and Insular Areas.
   
• The Department of Energy announced the inaugural $7.75 million Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Clean Energy Education Prize, a competition that will support HBCUs in developing programming to strengthen the participation of K-12 and community college students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. The competition, which has announced its first 10 winning HBCU teams, is supporting the creation of clean energy community networks to inspire the next generation of students to work in STEM fields related to clean energy.
   
• The Department of Education provided nearly $25 million to HBCUs under the Research and Development Infrastructure program to transform their research infrastructure, including strengthening research productivity, faculty expertise, physical infrastructure, and partnerships leading to increases in external funding.
   
• The Department of Education announced nearly $2.3 million in new grant awards for the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program, which strengthens science and engineering education programs and reduces barriers to entry in STEM careers for students of color, particularly women. Four HBCU grantees across three states (Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina) will receive a total of more than $1 million in funding.
   
• The Department of Education announced nearly $15 million in new grants under the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program to prepare the next generation of teachers at HBCUs and Minority Serving Institutions. These new awards include four HBCU grantees across four states (Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Texas), receiving a total $1.6 million in funding. This brings the total investment in Hawkins to $38 million under the Biden-Harris Administration, which is the first Administration to secure funding for the Hawkins program.  
   
• The Department of Transportation announced Prairie View A&M University in Texas as the first-ever HBCU to lead a University Transportation Center. Prairie View A&M and 11 other HBCUs were among 34 schools to receive a portion of a $435 million grant for development of interoperable technology systems, which allow equipment, software, and applications to work together, communicate, and exchange data.
   
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is pioneering efforts to close opportunity gaps in STEM, including nearly $12 million for eight HBCUs to support programs in artificial intelligence and machine learning and create a more diverse pipeline of talent for careers in data-intensive space-based Earth science.
   
• The White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through HBCUs established the Executive HBCU Space Lab, a new collaboration between HBCUs, the Federal government, and industry partners to increase HBCU engagement in space-related federal contracting. The Executive HBCU Space Lab is a solutions-oriented initiative that will release resources including SpaceTechConnect, a free platform to highlight space-related capabilities at HBCUs.
   
• The Executive HBCU Space Lab will release a federal contracting playbook to equip HBCUs with the necessary knowledge and tools to effectively secure and manage federal contracts, ensuring they fully leverage opportunities to benefit their institutions and communities.
   
• The Department of Health and Human Services National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences established HBCU-Connect, a new initiative with HBCUs to inspire the development of environmental health science leaders from diverse backgrounds. HBCU-Connect is a multifaceted effort to strengthen ties between the institute and faculty and students at academic institutions that are often underrepresented in the sciences.
   
• The Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau launched the Maternal Health Research Collaborative for MSIs, providing roughly $30 million in research support to seven HBCUs over five years. The funding will build capacity of HBCUs to conduct Black maternal health research to fully understand and address the root causes of disparities in maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, and maternal health outcomes; and to find community-based solutions to address these disparities and advance health equity.
   
• The Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to HBCUs totaled $147.5 million to support research, training, research capacity building, and outreach efforts. NIH funding included endowment awards to strengthen the research infrastructure of the HBCU award recipients to conduct minority health and health disparities research. Other NIH funding has assisted several HBCUs in contributing towards building a diverse scientific workforce, including mentorship and student training programs and career development opportunities for faculty.
   
• The National Science Foundation has awarded $10.5 million for Ideas Lab projects, under its Advancing Research Capacity at HBCUs through Exploration and Innovation (ARC-HBCU) opportunity, to assess and address research capacity needs, increase access to research facilities and build human capital at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Among the awards include a $3 million award to Central State University and a consortium of six HBCUs to advance research capacity in semiconductors. The consortium includes North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Fayetteville State University, Hampton University, Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, Coppin State University, and Meharry Medical College.
   
• The National Science Foundation, as part of Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) initiative, awarded an Atlanta-based HBCU consortium a $14 million competitive grant to establish a hub that promotes equity in the national research ecosystem and serves as a model for other HBCUs and emerging research institutions. The consortium includes Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College.
   
• Micron and GlobalFoundries, two leading semiconductor companies, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, recently announced their Minority Serving Institution Semiconductor Network, an investment of over $10 million across 15 schools, including HBCUs. Micron and its partners have come together to focus additional funding toward student programming and infrastructure at HBCUs, HSIs, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) to diversify the semiconductor workforce and bring attention to education equity in STEM degrees. 
   
• The National Science Foundation announced a new $2 million grant award to Clark Atlanta University under the HBCU CHIPS Network. The HBCU CHIPS Network, which was launched in February, is a collaboration with over 30 HBCUs and Georgia Institute of Technology to increase the coordination that supports semiconductor workforce development. HBCU partners include Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, Delaware State University, Jackson State University, Norfolk State University and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
   
• The National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on STEM (CoSTEM), in support of the CHIPS and Science Act, established an Interagency Working Group (IWG) on HBCU, TCU, and MSI STEM Achievement. The Council provides a coordinated federal approach to carry out sustained outreach activities to increase clarity, transparency, and accountability for federal research agency investments in STEM education and research at HBCUs, TCUs, and MSIs, including such institutions in rural areas. In May 2024, CoSTEM issued a report and recommendation on advancing research capacity at high-research activity status HBCUs. Federal agencies, the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs, and the White House Initiative on HBCUs will work together to issue additional recommendations and advance the model best practices recommended in the report.
   
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced awards totaling $5.5 million for HBCUs to conduct housing and community development research to support the production of affordable housing, support homeownership, advance use of renewable energy, and address infrastructure inequity affecting underserved communities.
   
• The Department of Justice (DOJ) has increased both the number of HBCUs applying for grants and its HBCU approval rate. Over the past five years, DOJ’s grant awards to HBCUs have increased 83% (from $900,000 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 to $5.2 million in FY23).