Funding for HBCU’s in Maryland

MARYLAND– A meeting was held Wednesday night for historically black colleges and university Presidents to discuss with congressional delegation how they can better the nations HBCU’s and their students.

During the meeting, they spoke about funding for the four HBCU universities and what programs they want to see.

“They specifically said they want us to continue to do the great work that we’re doing in making sure we not only train our individuals to go back into the work force, but we continue with the research,” Dr. Heidi Anderson, University of Maryland Eastern Shore President, said.

To fulfill congressional delegates wishes, universities like University of Maryland Eastern Shore will need more funding to create new programs and fix issues on campus.

“The funding that we get from federal helps us provide scholarships for our students, it helps us provide resources,” Dr. Anderson said.

Dr. Anderson said that land grant universities, like the UMES, have struggled with funding for awhile as a historically black university.

“It never has been enough money to begin with, but it’s enough to try and get you started, and those monies have been coming into the schools for years,” Dr. Anderson said.

We are told that during this meeting she addressed two main areas where she would like to see the funding go if approved.

“I want to focus on healthcare, but also on agriculture and where we are growing in that area,” Dr. Anderson said.

Among those things, students think that the funding should address issues of scholarships and more programs.

“I think there could be more scholarships because other than University Merit Grant and freshman scholarships, I don’t really see that many opportunities for students,” Remi Akinwale, UMES student, said.

“I know here we’ve had a lot of technology issues and maybe putting more funding towards that would help with some of those issues we’ve been having,” Benjamin Peckman, a UMES student, said.

And that’s what Dr. Anderson said she’s fighting for.

“What I want them to know, that I’m working on a way to get funding to make sure that they have the monies that they need to get their dream of a college education,” Dr. Anderson said.

Dr. Anderson and students told us that they hope the funding will also help fix buildings that are in need of upgrades.

Plus, she said that after the meeting she has high hopes that congressional delegates will get the funding she needs for UMES.