NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee State University supporters and the state government continue to find themselves in a quagmire as both parties have recognized that the historic Black college was underfunded.
How much is still up for debate and depends on who's asked. The state said half a billion was owed in 2022, while the federal government said that number is actually $2.1 billion.
TSU has the same funding status as the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in that the two were given resources for land and later should have been given the same state appropriations for agriculture extension offices and expanding their academic programs.
A data analysis from NewsChannel 5 found that both raw figures of state dollars and per-student spending don't match each other, with the University of Tennessee flagship campus receiving more state funding.
How is TSU even underfunded $2.1 billion?
Back in September, the federal government wrote a letter to Gov. Bill Lee explaining that Tennessee State University is owed $2.1 billion — which occurred from 1987 until 2020.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Tennessee State University are land grant colleges, meaning they have an elevated funding status when it comes to dollars from the state. The two were established before desegregation and Tennessee higher education institutions wouldn't accept Black students.
The letter argued, however, that TSU still had to function as a land grant college without the same funding.
What's a land grant college and why should I care?
That is the whole reason TSU and the federal government have an argument.
The Second Morrill Act of 1890 — more or less — created a separate but equal collegiate system for students of color, who couldn't attend public universities with White students. This was aimed at Confederate states, like Tennessee, that were struggling with the outcome of the Civil War and failing to integrate.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville is the state's first land-grant college, established as such during the Morrill Act of 1862 during the Civil War.
Both Morrill Acts focused on creating schools that emphasized agriculture and mechanic arts. The federal government bequeathed 10 million acres provided by land grants across the country, which meant taking land from Native American communities, according to the U.S National Archives.
NewsChannel 5 asked different state universities across Tennessee to provide a professor to explain the Morrill Acts. However, those schools said they feared their own funding numbers being cut by the state legislature if they did so.
Are the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and TSU funded differently?
The simple answer is yes.
In raw figures, those clad in orange accept substantially more funding than those in blue. In 2023 for example, Knoxville received $461.4 million while TSU got $65 million. However, both schools have vastly different enrollment figures.
NewsChannel 5 looked at the state budgets for this year 2023 and spun back to 2012. That included looking at both universities' budgets to reference check.
The University of Tennessee system budgets were straightforward in identifying appropriations and where that money went among their schools from Knoxville to Memphis. Knoxville's appropriations include money for UT Ag Research, UT Ag Extension and the UT Vet school.
However, TSU's budgets were trickier to understand and the line items for state funding weren't straightforward.
The state budget clearly created line items for TSU.
TSU received money in the last decade for their: general fund, the TSU McMinnville Center, the Institute of Ag and Environment Research, cooperative research, capital outlay, higher education salary policies, student retention from underserved populations, UTK and TSU agriculture fund, facility assessment and its power plant.
However, the greater capital budgets for each school are separate from the general budgets for each university and funded by those schools. In the last two years, the Tennessee legislature gave TSU $311 million for their capital projects, according to the state budget.
OK, so they don't fund them the same in raw data. Do they fund them the same per student?
No, not at all.
On average, the state spends around $2,206 more per student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville than at TSU, and it paints a clearer picture of funding given the enrollment numbers.
NewsChannel 5 broke down the data from 2012 to 2023 to calculate per pupil spending, taking the state appropriations and enrollment figures. The data breaks down on average that UTK gets $11,083 per student, and TSU receives $8,832 during the last decade.
NewsChannel 5 also looked at Middle Tennessee State University, which was founded around the same time as TSU. The state doesn't have the same obligation to MTSU as it does to UTK and TSU, and even in its highest peak of enrollment, MTSU received lower per pupil dollars than the two land grant schools.
Why is this something we are still talking about?
TSU students, alumni and supporters said they will keep attention on this issue until the legislature convenes in January. The state will set their appropriations for colleges in the spring for their upcoming budgets.
The latest came from Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump visiting Nashville, announcing that students could sue the state on this funding issue.
Those connected to TSU said they want to ensure the legislature doesn't forget about this number when they start creating the budget for the upcoming fall 2024 semester. However, the federal government spelled out in its letter that it never expected states to pay it back in one lump sum.
In order to keep attention on the issue, they are crafting events around the topic each week, although this week is the school's homecoming.
METHODOLOGY TO THE MATH
NewsChannel 5 looked at state budgets from the different legislatures to find numbers for Tennessee State University and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Enrollment numbers for those years were both from the colleges themselves, though TSU has not provided enrollment data for 2023 despite multiple requests.
Middle Tennessee State University data came from the National Center for Education Statistics.
To get the per pupil spending number, NewsChannel 5 took the total number of the state's appropriated money to the schools and divided it by the enrollment data for that year.
