A descriptive analysis of black college and university development with regard to selected federal funding polices : 1954-1980

The purpose of the study was to analyze the patterns of federal funding in fifteen of the black land-grant colleges and universities (BL-GCU's) in the United States. Particular attention was directed toward federal funding participation to these institutions in four Congressional acts: the National Defense Education Act of 1958, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Higher Education Act of 1965, and the Education Amendments of 1980. Specifically, the study was designed to test six hypotheses which examined the establishment of the BL-GCU's, the value of the early years of the BL-GCU's, homogeneity among the BL—GCU’s, total amounts of federal funds to the BL-GCU's and a comparison to white land-grant colleges and universities, the role of external special interest groups, and the impact of the four previously-mentioned acts on the BL-GCU's.

Fifteen of the original seventeen BL-GCU's were selected because they all are predominantly black. One of the original seventeen BL—GCU s, West Virginia State College, was excluded because it lost its land-grant status in the late 1950's. Another of the original seventeen BL-GCU's, Lincoln University of Missouri, was excluded because its student population is no longer predominantly black, as the fifteen remaining institutions are.

A historical approach was used to identify key Congressional acts which affected higher education. Likewise, the historical approach was used to trace the development of the BL-GCU's from their inception, with the Morrill Act of 1890, to 1980. The information which resulted from these searches was used to analyze the BL-GCU's and federal funding participation to these institutions.

Conclusions drawn from this study were that, in the early years, the BL-GCU's served a vital function in educating black youth, despite the fact that the curricula were primarily secondary rather than collegiate in nature and scope. It was also concluded that, when viewed as a subset, the BL-GCU's revealed a large number of similarities which made them a very homogeneous group. Another conclusion reached from this study was that establishment of BL-GCU's was more the result of state attempts to secure additional federal funds than to manifest interest in higher education for black citizens. Also, the BL-GCU's, collectively, received less amounts of federal funds than the white institutions received individually. Additionally, the conclusion is reached that special interest groups have played active roles in the expansion of BL-GCU's.