Federal grant competition fuels HBCU race to R1

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Aug 21, 2023 View in browser   By Bianca Quilantan QUICK FIX THE RACE TO R1 — Advocates for historically Black colleges have spent years urging Congress to shore up their aging campus infrastructure and boost their research capabilities — and the Biden administration’s grant competition announcement earlier this month is the first step to attaining a new level of prestige that has long been out of reach for the institutions. — Two grant competitions totaling nearly $100 million are underway to support research infrastructure and student retention. About $50 million will go toward a research and development infrastructure grants which are slated to play a key role in fueling HBCU leaders’ push to attain the coveted Research-1 status — an indicator of research prowess that opens doors to research grants — which no HBCU holds. — The grants, which were funded by the last appropriations cycle, will bolster construction on campuses, but also expand the HBCU research footprint. While HBCUs are only 3 percent of colleges, they produce about 25 percent of all Black STEM graduates. — “The administration is very focused on helping an HBCU obtain the R1 designation,” said Lodriguez Murray, United Negro College Fund senior vice president of public policy and government affairs. “Good facilities help you recruit the right people and have strong researchers on your faculty. And then hopefully all the rest of the money flows from there because good researchers can then write good grants and then students can work with the best.” President Joe Biden, Rep. Jim Clyburn, and Alexander Conyers, president of South Carolina State University, arrive at commencement exercises for the HBCU, Dec. 17, 2021, in Orangeburg, S.C. | Meg Kinnard/AP Photo — Few HBCUs will be considered for the R1 race, but HBCU advocates are pressing for more funding because the rest of their institutions are often stepping stones to entering competitive STEM programs. “You have to support all of the institutions that are providing the entire ecosystem of potential researchers, the students that get those undergraduate degrees,” Murray said. “And that's going to take much more than the $50 million.” “This is going to be impactful for the community,” he said. “And we're hopeful that this is the floor and not the ceiling for this type of spending.” IT’S MONDAY, AUG. 21. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. Let’s catch up over coffee. Reach me at bquilantan@politico.com. Send tips to my colleagues Mackenzie Wilkes at mwilkes@politico.com, Juan Perez Jr. at jperez@politico.com and Michael Stratford at mstratford@politico.com. And follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO APP: Stay in the know with the POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories. The MINI Q&A Institute for Higher Education Policy President Mamie Voight | Courtesy Photo ONE-ON-ONE WITH IHEP’S LEADER — The Institute for Higher Education Policy, a nonpartisan research policy and advocacy organization, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with an updated mission statement. IHEP President Mamie Voight said the group is focusing on “building a more equitable and just society” through systemic changes in higher education. As lawmakers on Capitol Hill weigh the value of higher education and federal spending on education, IHEP is pressing for a boost to the Pell Grant, passage of the College Transparency Act and support for the Postsecondary Student Success Grant program. Here’s a piece of the conversation: This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. MORNING EDUCATION: How do you measure the value of a degree or program if you're a student trying to pick a college this year? MAMIE VOIGHT: [A measurement framework is] if they earn at least as much as a high school graduate in their state, close enough to recoup their investment in higher education within 10 years. So if [students are] at least better off after having gone to an institution than had they not gone at all. That's one way to think about measuring the value of higher education. A large part of the work that we do is really around improving the quality of data so that students and policymakers and institutions can make those types of assessments. We're strong advocates for the College Transparency Act, which would strengthen the types of data that are available to all of those decision makers in order to help students make those choices about where to go to college, what to study and how to pay for it. ME: There’s a culture aspect when choosing a school that values prestigious institutions like Harvard and Yale University. What role does the data play in informing students on what institution might be the best financial choice for them despite the culture part? MV: The data can paint a really important picture for students to understand what they can expect from different institutions. And the vast majority of students are not going to Harvard and Yale. They're going to their state institutions, they're going to larger schools that are serving larger numbers of students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. From a policy standpoint, we need to make sure that we are supporting those institutions. And from a student perspective, they should be looking at all of the options available to them to assess which ones are going to provide them with the best opportunities and best meet their needs. ME: What about completion and persistence? How can colleges ensure students make it through their programs? MV: Closing and addressing the inequities in our system involves both the access side of the equation which we've been talking about, and that completion side and the value side. It's a three step process, and the completion component is essential for students to really reap those economic returns for their investment in education. We know from the research that there are more than 40 million adults out there with some college credit but no credential. Our system right now is not meeting the needs of today's students and helping them to get across that completion finish line. And we know that those challenges are most acute for students of color and for students from low-income backgrounds. Early childhood education ‘A CRYING NEED’ FOR CHILD CARE — State and federal officials are scrambling to support working parents as Covid relief cash for child care is running out. Much of the federal funding will dry up this fall, pushing states to enter partnerships to launch more child care facilities. Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill are also attempting to push forward supplemental appropriations as a last ditch effort, our Mackenzie Wilkes reports. — “This is a crying need for kids, for parents, for child care providers,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in an interview. “But it's also really connected to our economic productivity right now with the labor market being so tight.” — Roughly $4.1 billion in child care stabilization funds from the American Rescue Plan is set to expire on Sept. 30. And states have just a year to spend another dwindling $12 billion in supplemental Child Care and Development Fund dollars. — Kaine along with dozens of lawmakers in both chambers are urging President Joe Biden to support $16 billion in emergency funding for child care. But in a supplemental funding request this month pressing Congress to “continue funding” child care programs, the White House fell short of making an official appeal for it. On the Hill FOXX’S CHARGE — Rep. Virginia Foxx earned her spot as the GOP's top choice for shepherding some of its core priorities as families and presidential candidates stake a claim about what should happen in the classroom and on the job. Your host and POLITICO’s Eleanor Mueller took a deep dive into why Foxx is who she is and how she won a rare term-limit waiver to lead the committee once again. — Foxx grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia with no power or running water and parents with a 9th grade education. After working as a janitor through high school, she became the first in her family to graduate high school. Later, Foxx and her husband launched a plant nursery and landscaping business. The profits allowed Foxx to pursue a master’s degree in college teaching, which landed her a job as a professor and later a community college president. She then ran for school board and served a decade in the North Carolina state Senate. — Now she is in her 18th year in Congress and is in charge of the Republican education agenda in the House. Since taking the helm of the House Education and Workforce Committee, she’s secured House passage for the GOP’s cornerstone education plan for a “Parents Bill of Rights,” a bill restricting transgender student athletes, and helped build the conservative case against President Joe Biden’s Labor secretary nominee, Julie Su. MOVERS AND SHAKERS — Lee Rubenstein is joining the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue as its first chief training and education officer. Rubenstein previously served as edX’s vice president of business development.   Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the first episodes in September – click here.     Syllabus — They integrated Little Rock’s schools — now they’re slamming restrictions on AP African American Studies: NBC News — How Ron DeSantis joined the ‘ruling class’ — and turned against it: The New York Times — In Oklahoma, hundreds of students go to court for school infractions: The Oklahoman — A big remake is coming to California community college education, new chancellor says: Los Angeles Times   Follow us on Twitter Delece Smith-Barrow @DeleceWrites Michael Stratford @mstratford Bianca Quilantan @biancaquilan Juan Perez Jr. @PerezJr Mackenzie Wilkes @macwilkes   Follow us

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