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Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021

Did President Biden cut funding for historically Black colleges and universities by $30 billion?

Christiana Dillard, Lead Stories

no

The Biden administration originally proposed more than $90 billion in funding for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) ), tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs). That proposed funding was significantly cut by Congress, not the Biden administration as a social media post claims.

The Biden administration's American Jobs Plan, announced in March 2021, aimed for HBCUs and other MSIs to receive $45 billion, and the administration's American Families Plan, announced in April 2021, outlined $46 billion that would go toward funding HBCUs, TCUs and other MSIs. The plans have been reworked through bipartisan negotiation in Congress, and funding proposed by the Biden administration for HBCUs and other MSIs decreased significantly. Cuts to proposed HBCU funding were not made by Biden, but by Congress.

The reconciliation bill, still pending in mid-October 2021, determines the fate of the HBCU funding proposed by the Biden administration.

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