Bill to fund HBCU heads to president's desk
A bill to set aside $255 million a year for mostly historically black colleges and universities is headed to President Donald Trump's desk. The soon-to-become law will benefit Maryland's four historically black colleges and universities
The law will help maintain funding for a 1960s-era program to support minority institutions like Morgan State University.
"We are asking for an investment. We are not asking for an expenditure," said Dr. David Wilson, president of Morgan State University.
Wilson has been keeping track of the funding program.
"This legislation means that Morgan State University will continue to receive about $1.3 million every year to support programs that we think are at the core of what we are emphasizing here at the university," Wilson said.
The money will help to support student services, buy educational equipment, renovate school buildings and launch construction projects.
The bill cuts the number of questions on the FAFSA form by 22. The current application has more than 100 questions students must answer in order to apply for financial aid.
"It will allow them to navigate the FAFSA a lot easier," said Tajah Pettway, assistant financial aid director of Morgan State University. "Sometimes the FAFSA can be discouraging to students and families, so with them eliminating questions, it hopefully gets them to do it earlier, which is great for us."
Around 90 percent of Morgan State University students get some form of financial aid.