MEMBER ADVISORY

June 2, 2021

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) is providing information on President Biden’s FY 2022 Budget Proposal released on May 28, 2021. The complete budget details can be found here. The President’s request includes a grand total of $630.5 million or $314.7 million more than appropriated in FY 2021 as follows:

U.S. Department of Education: A total of $561.5 million or $304.7 more than for FY 2021 is proposed under Titles V and III: 

• Title V, Part A, Developing HSIs Program: $236.7 million, which is $88 million above the FY 2021 enacted level
• Title V, Part B, Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans: $28.8 million, which is $15 million above the FY 2021 enacted level
• Title III, Part F, Developing HSI STEM and Articulation Programs: $296 million, which is $201.7 million above the FY 2021 enacted level

National Science Foundation:

• Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions: $56.5 million, which is $10 million above the FY 2021 enacted level

USDA – Education Grants

• Education Grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions Grants Program: $12.5 million, which is the same as the FY 2021 enacted level

The President’s budget does not include funding for the Endowment Fund program for Hispanic-Serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities. This program remains unfunded.

Although the President’s budget reflects enhancements on the growing needs of the 569 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), it does not sufficiently address the urgent need for equitable funding for the 5.24 million students that HSIs educate and serve.

While HACU commends the President for increasing the funding for the 101 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the 290,000 students they serve, federal funding for the 569 HSIs continues to lag behind HBCUs at a disproportionate level. HSIs enroll over 5 million students, including two-thirds of the estimated 3.8 million Hispanic college students and one of every four of the 2.5 million African American college students in the United States. Although HSIs are only 17% of all colleges and universities, they educate 33% of Pell Grant recipients who come from low-income families and are often first-generation college students. The rapid growth of HSIs requires an equally equitable investment in their capacity to educate and train America’s diverse workforce.

The President’s FY 2022 budget request for HBCUs totals $1.1 billion or $305.5 million more than in FY 2021 and is nearly twice that of HSIs as follows: $798.4 million or $262 million more than the FY 2021 under the Department of Education; $80.46 million or $23.46 million more than the FY 2021 under the National Science Foundation (NSF); and $129 million or $20 million more than the FY 2021 under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The President’s budget is a request that requires Congressional action. HACU continues to advocate for increased funding levels that are equitable and proportionate to the fast-growing number of HSIs and their diverse learning communities. 

To view HACU’s appropriations requests and HACU’s legislative agenda, please click here.

HACU Member Advisories are a service of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)