Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced on September 22 that the Department of Education will send more than $174 million in additional one-time funding to historically Black colleges and universities for fiscal year 2026.

McMahon made the announcement at the HBCU Summit at the White House, which brought together senior administration officials, university presidents and stakeholders.

The funding is in addition to the $406 million Congress passed, and the President signed for HBCUs this year. It is the second consecutive year the administration has added money above the congressionally approved level.

Two Years of Added Funding

Last year, the department added $438 million to the same $406 million congressional level. Across the two years, the added funding totals $612 million.

This year’s added funding is $264 million less than last year’s, down about 60 percent. Combined funding fell from $844 million to $580 million, down about 31 percent.

The department described both years’ added funding as one-time money.

Where the Money Comes From

The $174 million comes through the mandatory funding mechanism and was reprogrammed from mandatory education funding. The Education Department told Inside Higher Ed that the HBCU money is coming from the Hispanic-Serving Institutions STEM and Articulation program.

That program was created to increase the number of Hispanic and low-income students earning STEM degrees and to develop transfer agreements between two-year and four-year institutions in those fields.

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities will receive more than $61 million in one-time funding. About $14.4 million of that comes from the same HSI STEM program.

The remaining $47.2 million for tribal colleges comes from programs for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, and Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions.

How the HSI STEM Money Became Available

In September 2025, the department ended discretionary funding for seven minority-serving institution grant programs and redirected roughly $350 million it had expected to spend on them that year.

The department still paid out about $132 million in mandatory funds for five minority-serving institution programs, including HSI STEM and Articulation, because it could not reprogram the statute. The department said at the time that it was continuing to review the legal issues tied to the mandatory funding mechanism.

On December 2, 2025, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion finding the Hispanic-Serving Institution programs, including HSI STEM and Articulation, unconstitutional. The opinion also found that the race-based eligibility requirements could not be separated from the rest of those programs. It reached the same conclusions for the formula-based Predominantly Black Institutions program and several others.

The opinion stated that funds appropriated for those programs may be repurposed or reprogrammed in appropriate circumstances.

McMahon said on December 19, 2025, that she agreed with the opinion. The department said it would not claw back money already obligated to grantees in prior years.

The Office of Legal Counsel stated that it was not asked to review, and did not review, programs involving HBCUs or Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities.

The department has urged Congress to address the constitutional issues and has worked with the White House Office of Management and Budget on legal options for the funds. Congress blocked the department from defunding the minority-serving institution programs but allowed it to move some of the money into the Strengthening Institutions Program.

Reaction

UNCF president and CEO Dr. Michael L. Lomax said he worked throughout the year to argue that “the first year of one-time funding was not enough.”

“The needs on HBCU campuses are too severe; but this investment will surely yield a great return,” Lomax said.

UNCF senior vice president of public policy and government affairs Rodriguez Murray said HBCUs put about $16 billion into the economy each year and that a class of HBCU graduates will earn $146 billion over their lifetime.

“HBCUs have long deserved this kind of investment, and it is high time an administration took note to make it happen,” Murray said.

McMahon said HBCUs have been “engines of opportunity” in their communities for nearly 200 years. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said the institutions remain central to workforce development and economic growth.

What Was Not Released

The department did not release a school-by-school breakdown of the $174 million or say how the money will be divided among institutions. The announcement does not mention athletics.

Division I HBCU athletic departments rely heavily on their universities’ budgets. What Does the Protect College Sports Act Mean for Division I HBCUs? found that 73.9 percent of total athletic revenue across the 16 schools with 2024-25 financial filings came from university-wide support and student fees.