The state of Tennessee shorted historically Black college Tennessee State University by $150 million to $544 million in land grant funds over more than 100 years, according to a state report released Monday.
In light of the revelation, TSU President Glenda Glover said she expects the state to make up for that funding loss so the university can expand programs and scholarships.
“You can’t have one university and put them out front and a second university and have them in the closet and then tell both of them: Go out there and compete,” Glover said.
Using the current formula for funding the state’s two land grant colleges, the University of Tennessee and Tennessee State University, TSU received $150 million less than it should have dating back to 1956, according to the report by House Budget Analysis Director Peter Muller. TSU was founded in 1912 to serve Black students.
Under a previous 3-to-1 formula, the outcome was even worse, with the state shorting TSU by $544 million, according to the report Muller gave to the Legislature’s Land Grant Institution Funding Committee. The federal government makes a grant to the state for UT and TSU, and the Legislature is responsible for matching that money for each institution.