Game-Changer: Black Colleges Poised for Major Tech Funding Boost Under Biden Bill

 Historically Black colleges could soon find themselves on a path to start competing with top-tier research universities specializing in science and technology.

By Dartunorro Clark November 13, 2021

Administrators at historically Black colleges are eagerly awaiting passage of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda, with hopes that the bill's record funding for HBCUs could put the schools on a path to compete with top-tier research universities specializing in science and technology.

The massive social safety net package making its way through Congress would provide $3 billion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, programs at minority-serving institutions. Advocates say that level of funding is crucial to helping Black colleges develop the kind of high-tech infrastructure commonly found at schools like Johns Hopkins and MIT.

Harry Williams, head of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, told NBC News that not one HBCU has attained the coveted status of a first-tier institution, schools that excel in research activity through doctoral programs that in turn attract federal and private grants.

But there are a dozen HBCUs classified as second-tier research schools, and Williams said the funding in Biden's proposal would be a "game-changer" for them and other minority-serving universities looking to boost their STEM programs.

"The significance here is that there's an opportunity for an HBCU to move into" the top echelon, he said. "And it requires this type of federal investment for that to happen."

"We want to build on this to continue to demonstrate clearly this type of investment is only going to yield a positive outcome for the African American community," he added.

Black graduates remain under-represented in STEM jobs despite enormous growth in the field over the past decade, according to an analysis this year by the Pew Research Center. Black adults 25 and older accounted for