When people talk about growing HBCU athletics, the conversation usually turns to donors, TV deals, and NIL. Those things matter. But the financial foundation underneath most programs in the Data Driven HBCU D1 cohort is something older and more structural: money from the university, from state government, and from institutional budgets that flow into athletics regardless of what happens on the field. Understanding how much each school receives, and from which channel, is essential context for any honest conversation about where these programs stand. Here is the full breakdown for the 17-school MFRS cohort in FY2025.
About the Data
All figures are drawn from the NCAA Membership Financial Reporting System, FY2025. The MFRS covers 17 of the 23 schools in the Data Driven HBCU D1 cohort. Howard University and Hampton University are private institutions that are not required to publicly file MFRS data. Bethune-Cookman University is also private and not required to file publicly. Delaware State University is not required to share its MFRS data publicly. Alabama State University and Tennessee State University are public schools whose FY2025 MFRS reports are pending. Those six schools are not included in this ranking.
Non-allocated revenue is listed as a separate column for transparency. Where that figure is large, it indicates that a meaningful portion of reported revenue was not categorized within the standard MFRS breakdown fields. UAPB carries $8,693,591 in non-allocated revenue, which is included in its total but should be noted as an unclassified figure likely reflecting institutional funding reported outside the standard categories.
The full underlying data is available through the Data Driven HBCU dashboards. The MFRS FY2025 Summary provides cohort-level revenue breakdowns across all 17 schools. Individual school dashboards, linked from that page, include complete revenue mix breakdowns showing institutional support, state and government allocations, indirect transfers, and all other funding sources by category.
Institutional and State Support Rankings: MFRS FY2025 (17 Schools)
| Rank | School | Conf | Direct Inst. | State/Gov | Indirect Inst. | Non-Alloc. | Total Inst/State | % of Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morgan State University1 | MEAC | $804,574 | $0 | $0 | $231,000 | $1,035,574 | 7.5% |
| 2 | Jackson State University | SWAC | $1,500,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,500,000 | 9.6% |
| 3 | Coppin State University | MEAC | $400,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $400,000 | 11.6% |
| 4 | Florida A&M University | SWAC | $1,303,739 | $755,986 | $0 | $0 | $2,059,725 | 14.8% |
| 5 | NC A&T State University | CAA | $2,669,830 | $3,353,258 | $835,092 | $0 | $6,858,180 | 30.5% |
| 6 | Mississippi Valley State Univ. | SWAC | $1,857,726 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,857,726 | 33.3% |
| 7 | Grambling State University2 | SWAC | $3,208,569 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $3,208,569 | 34.6% |
| 8 | Norfolk State University | MEAC | $8,897,480 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $8,897,480 | 35.6% |
| 9 | Southern University | SWAC | $3,707,497 | $0 | $2,975,305 | $0 | $6,682,802 | 39.3% |
| 10 | Texas Southern University | SWAC | $4,869,088 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $4,869,088 | 46.1% |
| 11 | NC Central University | MEAC | $4,385,535 | $2,990,988 | $1,541,039 | $64,778 | $8,982,340 | 50.2% |
| 12 | Prairie View A&M University3 | SWAC | $7,237,599 | $0 | $2,509,160 | $0 | $9,746,759 | 54.6% |
| 13 | Alabama A&M University4 | SWAC | $11,421,446 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $11,421,446 | 54.6% |
| 14 | SC State University | MEAC | $7,808,777 | $0 | $0 | $68,778 | $7,877,555 | 60.1% |
| 15 | Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore | MEAC | $6,085,071 | $0 | $1,290,187 | $52,778 | $7,428,036 | 62.2% |
| 16 | Alcorn State University | SWAC | $3,381,017 | $1,500,000 | $0 | $0 | $4,881,017 | 67.9% |
| 17 | Univ. of Arkansas-Pine Bluff | SWAC | $1,625,618 | $0 | $0 | $8,693,591 | $10,319,209 | 72.7% |
UAPB’s $8,693,591 in non-allocated revenue is included in its total; that figure represents the gap between total reported revenue and the sum of all itemized MFRS categories and should not be treated as a confirmed institutional allocation.
The percentage column reflects how differently each program is structured. Alcorn State at 67.9%, UMES at 62.2%, and SC State at 60.1% draw the largest share of their total revenue from institutional and state sources. At the other end, Jackson State at 9.6% and Morgan State at 7.5% rely on institutional support for a much smaller fraction of their total budget, with student fees and other sources making up the difference. Florida A&M’s 14.8% figure is the lowest among football-playing schools in the MFRS cohort, reflecting the multi-year auxiliary fund repayment constraint that limited institutional resource flexibility until the Board of Governors voted to forgive the debt in March 2026.
State law shapes these figures in ways the numbers alone do not convey. The amount a school can direct from state appropriations, auxiliary operations, or institutional budgets into athletics is governed by each state’s higher education policy framework. In May 2026, the Florida Board of Governors authorized state universities to allocate up to $22.5 million annually in auxiliary funds to athletics, a change that retroactively legitimized the type of transfer that had previously created FAMU’s repayment obligation. Similar policy decisions at the state level across Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina all factor into the data shown in each school’s MFRS breakdown.
Notes
1 Morgan State University. The MFRS figure of $1,035,574 reflects only what was reported within the standard MFRS revenue categories for FY2025. Morgan State’s EADA filing for 2024-25 reports total athletic revenue of $23,559,865, compared to $13,762,286 in the MFRS. The roughly $9.8 million gap between the two figures is consistent with institutional support flowing through channels captured in EADA’s total revenue allocation but not itemized within the MFRS breakdown. The 7.5% figure reflects MFRS-reported categories only and should not be read as the full scope of institutional investment in the program.
2 Grambling State University. Grambling’s EADA filing for 2024-25 reports total athletic revenue of $14,809,144, compared to $9,271,491 in the MFRS. The $5.5 million gap is consistent with a pattern similar to Morgan State, where institutional or state support appears in the EADA total program allocation but is not captured within the MFRS itemized revenue categories.
3 Prairie View A&M University. The variance at Prairie View appears on the expense side rather than the revenue side. MFRS total expenses of $26,003,486 are $10.6 million higher than EADA expenses of $15,374,541. The gap reflects facilities-related debt service obligations recorded within the MFRS that are not included in the EADA expense total. Prairie View’s MFRS revenue of $17,857,955 and institutional support figures in this table are not affected by the expense-side discrepancy, but the gap is relevant context for any analysis of the program’s overall financial position.
4 Alabama A&M University. Alabama A&M presents the inverse pattern from Morgan State and Grambling. MFRS total revenue of $20,904,164 is $7.9 million higher than the EADA total of $13,021,239. The MFRS is capturing institutional support that was not yet recorded in the EADA filing, likely reflecting timing differences in how institutional transfers were recognized between the two reporting periods.
Institutional Support Trends: FY2021 to FY2024
The FY2025 snapshot in the table above is the most recent data point in a four-year run that varies by school. UMES grew institutional support from $1.8 million in FY2021 to $6.8 million in FY2024, the largest percentage increase in the cohort. Norfolk State climbed from $5.3 million to $9.3 million over the same period. NC Central held relatively steady through FY2023 before jumping $3.5 million in FY2024 alone. Texas Southern made the most dramatic single-year move, going from $5.1 million in FY2023 to $11.6 million in FY2024. Morgan State moved the other direction in FY2024 — institutional support spiked to $6.3 million in FY2023, then pulled back to $951,000. Alabama A&M has consistently delivered among the largest institutional investments in the cohort, ranging from $11.5 million to $14.1 million over the four-year window. Alcorn State held at $2.1 million through FY2022, then grew to $4.1 million in FY2024. Jackson State is the most consistent program in the cohort, maintaining institutional support at exactly $1.5 million each year from FY2021 through FY2024, while relying on student fees to fund the budget. Southern University has been scaling back, from $11.3 million in FY2021 to $7.5 million in FY2024. Prairie View has followed a similar path downward, from $10.9 million to $8.6 million.
| School | Conf | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama A&M University | SWAC | $11,531,752 | $12,153,535 | $14,113,602 | $12,858,649 |
| Alcorn State University | SWAC | $2,141,500 | $2,141,500 | $2,294,500 | $4,069,602 |
| Coppin State University | MEAC | $699,146 | $700,592 | $464,752 | $414,769 |
| Florida A&M University | SWAC | $0 | $3,921,307 | $4,972,939 | $2,504,304 |
| Grambling State University | SWAC | $7,444,730 | $7,284,894 | $7,338,214 | $6,609,170 |
| Jackson State University | SWAC | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 |
| Mississippi Valley State Univ. | SWAC | $2,257,212 | $1,778,954 | $1,716,523 | $1,931,660 |
| Morgan State University | MEAC | $200,050 | $942,017 | $6,272,234 | $951,502 |
| NC A&T State University | CAA | $5,718,555 | $3,291,387 | $2,284,949 | $3,171,084 |
| NC Central University | MEAC | $5,047,656 | $3,811,324 | $4,183,426 | $7,673,086 |
| Norfolk State University | MEAC | $5,326,554 | $4,005,206 | $5,688,504 | $9,335,423 |
| Prairie View A&M University | SWAC | $10,921,627 | $7,875,247 | $7,828,917 | $8,590,255 |
| SC State University | MEAC | $7,659,697 | $8,542,964 | $7,154,955 | $8,405,993 |
| Southern University | SWAC | $11,307,433 | $9,776,037 | $8,030,359 | $7,534,006 |
| Texas Southern University | SWAC | $7,648,013 | $7,109,559 | $5,084,105 | $11,563,361 |
| Univ. of Arkansas-Pine Bluff | SWAC | $5,925,589 | $2,874,473 | $4,099,496 | $5,501,262 |
| Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore | MEAC | $1,828,956 | $4,240,526 | $4,995,516 | $6,798,702 |
Source: Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database, MFRS data FY2021-FY2024. Figures reflect direct institutional support only and do not include student fees or state/government allocations. Alcorn State and Alabama A&M trends data not available in the current pipeline.
EADA vs. MFRS Total Revenue: The Institutional Support Gap (17 Schools)
The gap between the EADA’s reported total athletic revenue and the MFRS’s figure reflects how institutional support flows differently under each reporting system. When EADA revenue exceeds MFRS, the difference represents institutional funding that the university channels into athletics through EADA’s allocation methodology but does not appear as a named line item in the MFRS breakdown. Morgan State carries the largest gap at $9.8 million. Grambling follows at $5.5 million. When MFRS revenue exceeds EADA, the MFRS is capturing funds that EADA does not include, such as unallocated revenue, facility debt service, or institutional transfers recorded in different periods. Alabama A&M’s $7.9 million gap runs in that direction.
| School | Conf | EADA Total Revenue | MFRS Total Revenue | Gap (EADA minus MFRS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan State University | MEAC | $23,559,865 | $13,762,286 | +$9,797,579 |
| Grambling State University | SWAC | $14,809,144 | $9,271,491 | +$5,537,653 |
| Alcorn State University | SWAC | $10,509,725 | $7,191,711 | +$3,318,014 |
| Texas Southern University | SWAC | $12,453,738 | $10,560,312 | +$1,893,426 |
| Coppin State University | MEAC | $5,091,720 | $3,450,390 | +$1,641,330 |
| SC State University | MEAC | $13,880,289 | $13,108,767 | +$771,522 |
| NC A&T State University | CAA | $23,048,767 | $22,466,961 | +$581,806 |
| Florida A&M University | SWAC | $14,473,075 | $13,919,420 | +$553,655 |
| Mississippi Valley State Univ. | SWAC | $5,576,233 | $5,576,533 | -$300 |
| Norfolk State University | MEAC | $24,823,369 | $24,980,261 | -$156,892 |
| Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore | MEAC | $10,137,959 | $11,946,722 | -$1,808,763 |
| NC Central University | MEAC | $15,631,805 | $17,900,517 | -$2,268,712 |
| Prairie View A&M University | SWAC | $15,374,541 | $17,857,955 | -$2,483,414 |
| Jackson State University | SWAC | $12,379,364 | $15,571,763 | -$3,192,399 |
| Southern University | SWAC | $13,063,612 | $17,026,134 | -$3,962,522 |
| Univ. of Arkansas-Pine Bluff | SWAC | $9,302,196 | $14,201,927 | -$4,899,731 |
| Alabama A&M University | SWAC | $13,021,239 | $20,904,164 | -$7,882,925 |
EADA vs. MFRS Total Expenses: The Gap (17 Schools)
The expense side tells a different story for several programs. Prairie View’s MFRS expenses of $26 million run $10.6 million above what EADA reports, driven by facilities debt service obligations that appear in MFRS but not in EADA. Southern University and Alabama A&M show similar patterns on the expense side. At the other end, Texas Southern’s EADA expenses run nearly $1.9 million above its MFRS figure.
| School | Conf | EADA Total Expenses | MFRS Total Expenses | Gap (EADA minus MFRS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Southern University | SWAC | $12,453,738 | $10,560,312 | +$1,893,426 |
| SC State University | MEAC | $13,880,289 | $13,108,767 | +$771,522 |
| Grambling State University | SWAC | $14,809,144 | $14,243,193 | +$565,951 |
| Alcorn State University | SWAC | $10,509,725 | $10,068,066 | +$441,659 |
| NC A&T State University | CAA | $22,674,737 | $22,353,688 | +$321,049 |
| Florida A&M University | SWAC | $14,473,075 | $14,318,649 | +$154,426 |
| Morgan State University | MEAC | $23,559,865 | $23,559,866 | -$1 |
| Mississippi Valley State Univ. | SWAC | $5,281,853 | $5,290,230 | -$8,377 |
| Coppin State University | MEAC | $5,091,720 | $5,201,184 | -$109,464 |
| Norfolk State University | MEAC | $24,823,369 | $24,980,261 | -$156,892 |
| Univ. of Maryland Eastern Shore | MEAC | $10,137,959 | $11,946,722 | -$1,808,763 |
| NC Central University | MEAC | $15,631,805 | $17,900,517 | -$2,268,712 |
| Jackson State University | SWAC | $12,379,364 | $16,388,654 | -$4,009,290 |
| Univ. of Arkansas-Pine Bluff | SWAC | $9,302,196 | $14,201,927 | -$4,899,731 |
| Southern University | SWAC | $13,063,612 | $18,374,442 | -$5,310,830 |
| Alabama A&M University | SWAC | $13,021,239 | $20,904,164 | -$7,882,925 |
| Prairie View A&M University | SWAC | $15,374,541 | $26,003,486 | -$10,628,945 |
Data Driven HBCU covers the financial reality of public HBCU athletics using publicly available federal filings and NCAA data. All figures drawn from FY2025 NCAA Membership Financial Reporting System filings.
Sources
NCAA Membership Financial Reporting System. FY2025 filings for 17 D1 HBCU institutions, compiled by Data Driven HBCU.
Florida Board of Governors. Regulation 9.013 amendment authorizing auxiliary fund transfers to athletics, effective 2025. Coverage: CBS Sports, May 2026.
