Separate and Unequal: Funding Disparities in Historically Black Land-Grant Universities

The 1890 Morrill Act established 19 historically Black land-grant universities, a subset of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) throughout the end of the 19th century in response to discriminatory admission processes amongst the already existing predominantly white land-grant universities. Since their inception, however, historically Black land-grants have been systematically underfunded. This paper synthesizes scholarship on the funding mechanisms, implementation, and unending anti-Black racism within higher education policy that perpetuates the issue of disparate funding for historically Black land-grant universities. Drawing on policy briefs, issue reports, news articles, and government agency websites, the funding gap between historically Black land-grants and their predominantly white counterparts becomes clear while a flawed codified exception for federal capacity funding, bias, and generational wealth gaps arise as underlying root causes. Affordable HBCUs play a critical role in the social and economic mobility of many Black Americans. Yet, their chronic underfunding reduces their ability to support the success of marginalized students.