October, 2012

NAFEO National Association For Equal Opportunity In Higher Education If You Can Dream It, you can achieve It at an HBCU or PBI!

Dear Secretary Duncan:

I write to thank you for what I believe was a very productive meeting of Drs. Harvey, Lomax, Taylor and myself with you and your team on Friday. I am encouraged that we will be able to work closely and effectively with you on the matters that we discussed. I look forward to the follow-up meeting with Ms. Carmel Martin and Mr. Jim Runcie that you have planned for next week and to your written response to our October 10, 2012 letter.

When we met on Friday, you seemed unfamiliar with the data that indicate that the federal government's support for HBCUs declined by approximately $148M from 2010 to 2011. That data is reflected in the attached documents ("Individual Assistance Chart," "HBCCU STEM Expenditures" and "Agency HBCU Expenditures") which were sent on August 24, 2012 by the Associate Director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs to agency officials responsible for HBCU programs, one of whom shared it with me. While the documents are marked "preliminary," it is my understanding that the data are by and large correct.

I am also attaching the data I recorded in response to a request I made of FSA, which I shared on Friday relative to the slippage in the number of Pell awards to students attending HBCUs and in the size of the Pell grants to students attending HBCUs. I expect that Jim will provide a comprehensive list from which we can begin our collective work to identify and weed out practices, protocols and procedures that serve as barriers to the full and unfettered participation of HBCUs, HBCU students and families in federal programs intended to assist them; and which have resulted in or contributed to the downward trend relative to federal investments in HBCUs, HBCU students and families, at a time when this Administration has joined us in fighting for and securing more federal dollars for HBCUs, PBIs, and their constituents.

I thank you for your support of the HBCU community and those of us who represent the community in Washington.

Lezli Baskerville, Esquire President & CEO NAFEO (202) 439-4704