to Xavier University of h, the largest in the institution's history, was announced only days ago. The gift came from , the philanthropist who founded Amazon with former husband Jeff Bezos. Within the last couple of weeks, a couple of Atlanta HBCUs — Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University — also got $38 million each.
, in Arkansas got $19 million from Scott's foundation, , and in Texas and each received $63 million. in Baltimore got $63 million last month.
The day the Xavier contribution was announced, campus faculty, staff and students and Xavier alumni went crazy with excitement. Of course, there were plenty of unsolicited social media comments about how the money should be spent. With recent news in October about , some thought those decisions might be changed.
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott
File photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
I caught Xavier University President Reynold Verret just before he went to bed in Rome after a long day of travel to Italy. He and a delegation of Xavier alumni, friends and supporters were on a pilgrimage in honor of the 25th anniversary of the canonization of St. Katharine Drexel, who founded the university. He told me that the Scott money has been designated for investments so the university can use the yield to support students.
"The value of what we're doing is significant, and this will help students who may not be able to pay all the costs," he told me. "To get such an expression of confidence from someone like Scott is big."
Verret and other HBCU leaders hope that there will be other "creative givers" who see the value of Xavier and other HBCUs, the importance of getting students into these institutions, keeping them in school and seeing that they graduate.
These were not financial commitments or promises. These were deposits. Each of these schools was a winner getting so much money in a lump sum. The biggest donation went to with an $80 million contribution, including $17 million for its medical college.
Verret is good at keeping secrets. He knew about the multi-million-dollar contribution earlier this month. Even with the excitement and fun during homecoming weekend, Verret kept his word when he promised on Nov. 6 not to say anything.
It's not Thanksgiving yet, but certainly these and other HBCUs are more than thankful and blessed to end the year with more money in their accounts than they had anticipated.
Lots of HBCUs are , but none more than land-grant HBCUs that were supposed to get equal financial support from states and the federal government. Even the had to admit that land-grant HBCUs in 16 states have been underfunded by about $12 billion.
This is the second round of big HBCU contributions by Scott. In 2020, about $560 million was provided to 23 HBCUs. This year, she's given HBCUs about $700 million.
Xavier President Reynold Verret
G-MILES
Every penny, dollar, $20 or $100 helps HBCUs that have been woefully underfunded throughout their histories.
Millions donated to the likes of Harvard University, Columbia University or Georgetown University mean a lot. It means a lot more to HBCUs.
One estimate puts the combined total of HBCU endowments and investments between $3 billion and $4 billion. Yes, that's a lot of money. But spread across more than 100 institutions, it's small potatoes compared to the $800 billion combined total for predominantly White institutions. Harvard alone has endowment assets of more than $50 billion.
HBCUs are 3% of all U.S. higher education institutions and, collectively, they have less than one percent of the total for higher education institutions.
Let that sink in, and consider the impact.
According to the United Negro College Fund, which regularly collects and analyzes HBCU and higher education data, HBCUs account for 10% of all Black college students and graduate 20% of all Black students who receive diplomas.
Add this to the HBCU recipe for success: Of all African American college students who graduate with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees, about 25% of them are HBCU graduates. Of all Black attorneys, 50% graduate from HBCUs. Of all Black judges, 80% graduate from HBCUs.
Clearly, Scott sees value in HBCUs. She wouldn't have given millions to HBCUs in the first place. She certainly wouldn't have given millions more to HBCUs this year if she didn't see the value. And she definitely wouldn't have given Xavier and other HBCUs another round of millions if she didn't think that her first investment was paying off.
Scott has been an institution-saver in some instances. She's been an amazing encourager and motivator to others.
Let there be no doubt that Xavier and the nation's other HBCUs continue to provide tremendous value while having a significantly disproportionate impact on the future of our country.
Look at Scott's millions. Look at the results. Consider what difference billions might make.