Tennessee's Only Public HBCU Gets $318 Million Grant—Can It Close the Historic Funding Gap?

During the long tenure of the late Harold Love Sr. as a Tennessee state representative from 1968 to 1994, he was well aware of the underfunding issues facing the state's only public Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Early in his political career, he helped lead a committee that found the state had underfunded Tennessee State University.

Tennessee State University is one of 19 land-grant HBCUs established under the Second Morrill Act of 1890. That act prohibited the federal government from providing certain funds to states that refused to admit non-white students to their land-grant colleges. However, states could still receive these funds if they provided separate institutions for non-white students.

Even under current federal law, states are supposed to equitably distribute federal funds that flow to their land-grant institutions—in Tennessee, that means Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee. But Love Sr. found that wasn't the case.

"In one year, 1970, there was $4.5 million that came to the state of Tennessee to be split between the two land-grant institutions, and Tennessee State only received $51,000," his son, Harold Love Jr., told Higher Ed Dive last year. "So he said, 'This is not fair, this is not right, this is 99 to 1.'"

Half a century later, Love Jr. has taken up his father's fight.

Love Jr., now also a Tennessee state representative, says the underfunding issue operates on multiple levels. The problem concerns both the base funding Tennessee State receives from the state, and the funds the state receives from the federal government for its two land-grant institutions. Additionally, the state must provide matching funds for every federal land-grant dollar.

Love Jr. helped lead a 2021 report that found Tennessee may have underpaid Tennessee State University by as much as $544 million in matching funds over several decades, forcing the university to dip into its own budget to make up the shortfall. Love Jr. said that if the state doesn't provide matching funds, the university either has to forgo federal funds or find the match from its own resources.

The efforts, driven by Democrat Love Jr., prompted Republican Governor Bill Lee to propose $250 million for facility upgrades at the university in fiscal year 2023. Lee's budget also included $60 million for a new engineering building and $8 million for maintenance.

Love Jr. told Higher Ed Dive in February that being able to finish his father's work is a tremendous honor.

"This is by far one of the most satisfying things I've done as a legislator, because I know my father really wanted to make sure that Tennessee State got the equitable funding that they deserved," Love said. "His work became the foundation for this investment—for me, it's very gratifying."

Tennessee State University has praised the budget proposal, and higher education experts agree the funding is necessary. Still, some argue the proposal falls far short of addressing decades of inequitable state funding that has forced the university to operate with fewer resources than it should have had.

"It's necessary, but it's not enough to make up for the losses Tennessee State has historically experienced," said Royel Johnson, a professor of education at the University of Southern California. "Equity isn't just about giving an institution what it's legally owed, but also accounting for the losses themselves and the impact of not having those resources."

Is Tennessee State University owed $1 billion?

William Johnson, a professor of human performance and exercise science at Tennessee State, has seen firsthand how underfunding affects the university's ability to conduct research and fulfill other duties.

"We've had star faculty—big-name researchers here—who did some research here, but then found that the lab facilities and research support weren't sufficient for them to continue to grow," William Johnson said. "So they left."

There are other visible signs of the funding gap on campus.

"There's a huge, huge, huge backlog of deferred maintenance, and dilapidated buildings and so forth," William Johnson said.

A 2020 report from real estate services firm JLL found that nine campus buildings would be in poor or worse condition if they didn't receive maintenance within a year. The report estimated it would cost $88.6 million to fix those and other issues, and that the deferred maintenance backlog would grow to $427.5 million over a decade.

Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover, in a statement to Tennessee Lookout,praised the governor's budget plan,which would provide the university with $318 million in one-time capital funds. Glover said the money would directly benefit the university's faculty, staff, students, and residents across the state. If the Tennessee legislature approves the budget proposal, repairs could begin as early as July.

While facility upgrades are necessary, William Johnson believes the proposed funding doesn't make up for the opportunities the university has missed due to decades of underfunding. Higher education experts also say the funds shouldn't be limited to capital improvements.

"The legislature doesn't want to hear this, and certainly my institution doesn't want me to say this, but is the loss actually $1 billion?" William Johnson said. "Is it $2 billion? Is it $6 billion? Who knows what opportunities might have been there?"

A history of underfunding

The Tennessee legislature didn't begin fulfilling its matching fund obligations to Tennessee State University until 2017,Forbes recently reported. But Tennessee State isn't alone: In 2013, a report from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities found that several other HBCUs alsomissed out on state matching funds。

during the two-year period studied. These issues have caught the attention of federal lawmakers. In February, six Democratic representativespointed outin a letter that 19 land-grant HBCUs received only 82% of the state matching funds they were owed in fiscal year 2020, while their white counterparts received 100% of what they were owed.

In Forbes' analysis, the authors compared per-student state funding at predominantly white land-grant universities with their corresponding HBCUs. The publication found that, if funded equally, Tennessee State would have received $1.9 billion more during the study period from 1987 to 2020.

According to the analysis, only Florida A&M University and North Carolina A&T State University—underfunded by $1.9 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively—missed out on larger sums.

Forbes said some of the difference could be explained by the research strength of predominantly white institutions. However, the authors wrote, this could create a self-fulfilling prophecy: predominantly white institutions build research capacity through years of generous state funding, while their HBCU counterparts are forced to operate with far fewer resources.

"When our HBCUs are forced to use their own discretionary funds to pay for things that other states typically give to white institutions, it becomes an uneven playing field," said Erin Lynch, associate provost for scholarships, research, and innovation at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. "It really perpetuates conditions of under-resourced communities."

Still, many HBCUs boast thriving student bodies despite historical underfunding. According to a 2019 report from the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), in 2016, HBCUs made up only 9% of four-year institutions in their states but awarded 26% of all bachelor's degrees to Black students. The organization also found that HBCUs create about 134,000 jobs annually and generate $14.8 billion in economic impact for local and regional economies.

"Imagine what the economic impact could be if they were funded at the same level as other flagship institutions in the state or other non-minority-serving institutions," Lynch said.

Lynch, a former student and employee at Tennessee State, believes $250 million isn't enough to make up for the university's underfunding. Still, she and higher education experts hope the budget proposal will spark similar discussions in other states.

"I hope it prompts people to really take a fresh look at what they're doing," Lynch said.