NAICU Washington Update

President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs Holds First Meeting

May 27, 2022

During the first meeting of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), leaders discussed several important topics and concerns and agreed to an overall set of strategic priorities to guide their work. 

Initially established through Executive Order and then formalized in the HBCU PARTNERS Act, the Board is a coalition of stakeholders who advise the President on strengthening the educational capacity of HBCUs. 

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Under Secretary James Kvaal participated in the meeting and spoke of the importance of HBCUs in the higher education community and the efforts by the Administration to invest in this critically important sector of higher education. They also said that the leading message about HBCUs is how they punch above their weight as far as educational outcomes and their importance to the nation. 

There was a robust conversation around student loan debt forgiveness and what the Administration is doing to address this issue. The Department described its most recent efforts to offer loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness limited waiver program and other efforts to promote total and permanent disability discharge, borrower defense, and closed school discharge. Also discussed was the need to have HBCUs become Tier One research universities. Currently, there are no HBCUs that are considered Tier One and only 11 that are considered Tier Two. 

The Board agreed that its overall strategic priorities should be the following:
  • Correcting infrastructure inequities;
  • Increasing federal research support and faculty capacity;
  • Broadening financial support and career pathways for student success; and
  • Increasing targeted support for all HBCUs.
Going forward, the Board has agreed to meet on a quarterly basis. 
 

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