How a $100M donation is a game-changer for HBCUs

Geoff Bennett:

The United Negro College Fund has received a $100 million grant to help increase endowments for historically Black colleges and universities.

The donation from Lilly Endowment is the single largest unrestricted private grant the organization has ever received in its 80-year history. And its sole purpose is to increase funding for each of its 37-member institutions.

We're joined now by Michael Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF.

Dr. Lomax, thank you so much for being here.

Dr. Michael Lomax, President and CEO, United Negro College Fund: Geoff, it's great to be here.

Geoff Bennett:

You have called this $100 million grant a game-changer for HBCUs, because, until now, historically Black colleges and universities haven't had shared endowments. How do you intend to leverage this funding?

Dr. Michael Lomax:

First of all, there is a big issue here.

HBCUs' endowments are significantly lower than their non-HBCU peers. If you add up the endowments of all 102 HBCUs, you get to about $4 billion. Harvard's got a $50 billion endowment. So we have really got to close that gap. We have got to close the wealth gap for these institutions.

And a handful of the institutions keep getting all the money because they're their well-known brands.

Morehouse, where you and I went to college…

(LAUGHTER)

Dr. Michael Lomax:

… and Howard and Spelman, and it's — but there are 90-some-odd others that really need support.

And so one of the ways we felt that we could begin to break that cycle, but help everybody, was by creating a pooled endowment for the 37 members, private institutions that are members of UNCF. So we're going out and raising the money. And we just got this $100 million from Lilly, which will become the foundation for a $370 million pooled endowment.

And why a pooled endowment? Well, a pooled endowment because when you — if you have a $10 million endowment, you can't make really good investments. But if you have $370 million to invest, you can get professionals to work with you on it. And, over time, that endowment will grow, because we're not going to let anybody take the money out, only spend a certain percentage of it every year that they have earned in the prior 12 months.

Geoff Bennett:

And HBCUs, it's fair to say, punch above their weight. They represent 3 percent of all institutions of higher education, yet produce nearly 20 percent of Black college graduates, 40 percent of Black engineers, 50 percent of Black lawyers, 50 percent of Black doctors, 80 percent of Black judges.

(LAUGHTER)

Geoff Bennett:

These are real beacons of opportunity.

Dr. Michael Lomax:

Yes. Yes.

Geoff Bennett:

What do you see as the added value of HBCUs these days, especially in light of the Supreme Court striking down the use of affirmative action in college admissions and the conservative backlash to teaching about race in schools?

Dr. Michael Lomax:

Yes.

Well, look, these institutions have been doing the hard work for over a century-and-a-half. Long overdue that they should get the recognition that they're getting today.

Yes, they're getting more attention and more young people want to attend these institutions. But what we have to realize is that the students who come most to HBCUs are low-income first-generation students. And so they really have to have additional financial support in order to cover the costs of attending a private institution or even a public one.

So we're trying to say to this country, Black colleges and their students don't want a handout. They want a hand up. They want someone to help them by investing in them, and then there will be a tremendous return on the investment.

You used the term that we use all the time, punching above their weight. They have been doing that, and they have been doing more with less. It's about time they got to do more with more.

Geoff Bennett:

The higher enrollment presents some challenges for these institutions.

Dr. Michael Lomax:

Yes.

Geoff Bennett:

Many HBCUs are dealing with housing shortages. Others are trying to improve their facilities and their infrastructure to stay competitive and to keep pace with the demand.

What are you hearing from college leaders about how they're dealing with those challenges?

(LAUGHTER)

Dr. Michael Lomax:

Well, the hardest thing about being a college president is that you have to spend a whole lot of time doing what I do, going out and raising money.

And at the same time, they have got to ensure that they're doing what their primary purpose is, and that is to provide a competitive education for young people, and to do it in a supportive and embracing environment.

We saw recently in the issues around — since October 7 that this isn't just something that affects Black students. It really affects a lot of other students, Jewish students, on predominantly white campuses, a sense that their — these institutions are not really there for them, that they're there on sufferance, as opposed to on merit.

And I think there's a real challenge for a lot of American higher education, that they have become so exclusive that the people that they're there to serve don't feel a sense of connection. So what we know about HBCUs is that they do create warm, supportive, nurturing environments.

And those first-generation Black students whose families don't have a lot of tradition of sending people to college and they're not viewed as outsiders, they're viewed as the reason for the institution. Given that, there's a real challenge for us to raise more dollars to support more students.

And that's why endowments are so important. Now, I would just say something about this. We have a $1 billion capital campaign under way.

Geoff Bennett:

Where are you in that pursuit?

Dr. Michael Lomax:

We're at over $550 million.

Geoff Bennett:

OK.

Dr. Michael Lomax:

We're moving much more rapidly than we thought, because I think there is a greater understanding of the value of the work that we do.

The $100 million from Lilly Endowment is a — it's a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. I just need to raise another $450 million and I will meet my floor. But it is just that. It's a floor. It's not a ceiling.

Geoff Bennett:

Well, I wish you all the best in that endeavor.

Dr. Michael Lomax, thanks so much for being here.

Dr. Michael Lomax:

Thank you very much, Geoff Bennett. Great to be with you.