President Trump has held a meeting with leaders of historically black colleges and universities, including officials of Southern University, Grambling State, and Dillard and Xavier Universities of New Orleans.
The HBCU leaders have urged the president to provide additional funding for their schools in the form of grants and federal contracts. They want HBCUs to be awarded 5% of total federal grant, internship and cooperative agreement funding and 10% of all federal contract funding to colleges and universities.
The president is expected to sign an executive order today that would move initiatives to assist HBCUs from the Education Department into the White House.
In a recent weekly address, Mr. Trump said he wanted to "honor and promote the achievements" of those colleges and universities.
“They are not given the credit that they deserve, and they are going to start getting that credit," he said.