MACON, Ga. — A lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday alleges the Georgia Board of Regents underfunded three public historically black colleges and universities. That includes Savannah State, Albany State and Fort Valley State here in Central Georgia.
People go to HBCUs like Fort Valley State University for different reasons.
“It's close to home,” freshman Ciara Young said.
Others are looking for a strong community.
“They treat you like family and I felt like I'd be in a good place here,” senior Rasheed Muhammad said.
However, a lot of the time it’s because they are looking for places to find a school community where students have similar experiences to them.
“I wanted to be around like-minded people and people who like me,” Muhammad explained. “In other spaces, I may not be seen as equal.”
For plaintiffs filing a lawsuit in federal court against the University System of Georgia, they say funding for HBCUs are historically unequal.
They say black land grant universities have been overlooked and starved of resources.
“The problem with our parking lot and how there's not enough room for everyone,” Young said.
Back in September, the U.S. Department of Education and Agriculture said that Fort Valley was short-changed $603,154,480 over 30 years.
By law, HBCUs are required to receive the same amount of funding per student as their primarily white counterparts.
She says she knows equal funding could benefit the campus, like a bigger parking lot for everyone.
“The parking lot that we asked about in the town hall meeting, It's actually a $5 million project and we don't have the money for it,” Young said.
For Fort Valley, the lawsuit says the same programs at their school are offered at universities like Middle Georgia State. It's only 40 miles away.
It says it prevents their student growth and expansion of programs. Which includes finding and affording teachers for programs on a smaller budget too.
“My roommates, it’s where they can’t schedule the classes that they need for next semester because they don't have a teacher,” Young said.
Muhammed says the University of Georgia and Fort Valley State are Georgia’s only land grant institutions.
“If you look at the numbers, the disproportionate amount of funding that UGA gets compared to Fort Valley is scary,” he said. “We both have good fields in agriculture and we both help the state of Georgia in a substantial way. Why not Fort Valley State getting as much funding as a predominantly white institution as UGA?”
It's to give them an equal, fighting chance.
“Our school needs more funding and I feel like it's not fair. We have many black doctors, black lawyers and to continue to push this out into the world would be great,” Muhammad said. “They’re here for four years, why not give them the best education that they can, therefore they can help in any job field that they decide to go into in the future.”
Many students, however, are still happy they found a community where they feel like they fit in.
“I’m glad to be around people who understand me and who are just like me,” Young said.
We reached out to both the University System of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Education for comment. They're both defendants in the lawsuit.
They said they have not yet been served documents and could not comment.