An article in Diverse Issues in Higher Education reports on a bill Barack Obama introduced a while ago that will help funding for Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), colleges that have high proportions of low-income African Americans that do not qualify as HBCUs. They report:
A member of the board of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Education, Daniel says the Obama plan has picked up endorsements from NAFEO, the United Negro College Fund, the American Association of Community Colleges and other organizations. “The way the legislation has been revamped, it does not present the challenge that it once did,” she says.
“It’s a great opportunity,” agrees Dr. Edison Jackson, president of Medgar Evers College, where 94 percent of the 5,700 students are Black. “It seems to me there’s room for all of us.”
As a separate program, aid to PBIs should be able to withstand any legal challenges, Daniel says. The aid would be similar in structure to the existing federal aid program for Hispanic-serving institutions, which provides aid to colleges that enroll a sizable number of Hispanic students.
“Many students attending predominantly Black institutions have already beaten the odds to progress this far,” Obama says, noting that the bill could help more than 250,000 students.
“These institutions have for years given our children the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today’s economy, and their recognition is long overdue,” he says, adding that many community colleges could also qualify for the program.
The bill would define a PBI as a college of at least 1,000 undergraduates in which Blacks represent 40 percent or more of the student body. At least half of all undergraduates also must be low-income or first-generation students.
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July 24, 2007 at 2:06 pm
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