A Leader Focused On Return On Investment

Tony Allen is the outspoken president of Delaware State University and the chair of President Biden’s board of advisors for the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities. But Allen is not your typical college president — he has a background in banking and speech writing, and not higher education.

After being turned down for the Delaware State University presidency in 2008, Allen applied to be provost at the Dover-based institution in 2017. He served as provost for a three years and secured the presidency in 2020.

Allen started his career as a speechwriter for then-Senator Joe Biden. This relationship led to various roles in Biden’s campaign and presidential transition teams. President Biden trusts Allen and respects his vision for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). I talked to Allen recently about his thoughts on various issues related to HBCUs, their importance, and future.

When asked how he convinces philanthropists looking to give or corporations looking for new employees that HBCUs are important, he shared, “HBCUs are the best return on investment in higher education. They are low-cost, high-quality. They propel African Americans from low-income communities to the African American middle class. If you believe in higher education access for all, HBCUs remain a central gateway.” Allen added, “low-income students are not our entire population of students, but they are a significant portion of it. HBCU socio-economic mobility scores are through the roof.”

As HBCUs have student populations that are roughly 70% Pell Grant eligible, and over 95% of their students are on financial aid, President Biden’s loan forgiveness policy is welcome, and essential for growth and movement into the middle class for HBCU students. From Allen’s perspective, “The loan forgiveness plan is the most significant action ever. There has been a lot of conversation but little action in the past — among

politicians and even higher education folks — around debt relief. We need to continue to increase Pell and do more for low-income folks. But without this step, we couldn’t get movement. Biden elevated the conversation.”

When President Biden announced his loan forgiveness policy, Allen was at a pep rally on his campus, and when students heard the news “they went crazy.” As Allen explained, the students had just taken out loans and were “already feeling the stress — and the new policy gives them so much hope for their future.” He added, “There was a reporter who graduated from Delaware State last year who was doing a story on loan forgiveness, and she told me that loan forgiveness is going to give her an opportunity to attend graduate school. She’s from a low-income family and was going to delay further education, but now she doesn’t have to. She can meet her goals.”

Biden’s loan forgiveness policy has been supported by most young people, but has also received ample criticism across party lines, with the biggest complaint being that loan forgiveness isn’t fair to those who have already paid off their student loans or who didn’t go to college. To those who don’t think federal loan policy is fair, Allen says, “Equal is not equitable. Because of systemic inequities as it relates to Black and Brown students, the debt to attend college is upwards of twice for Black students than it is for White students. And, the majority of the debt relief will go to those who are making less than $88k a year. Biden’s policies are aimed at fostering equity.” Allen is correct. According to a study by economists at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, the majority of debt relief will be allotted to the bottom 60% of U.S. households by income. More specifically, the study found that 75% of the loan forgiveness benefit will go to households earning less than $88,000 a year.

Allen wants to see the federal government do a lot more for HBCUs and, as mentioned above, believes these colleges and universities are a strong return on investment for the nation. He would like the federal government to invest more money in HBCUs’ technological capacity and infrastructure, and for more grants and contracts to be allotted to HBCUs. As we spoke, he noted, “Johns Hopkins University receives more federal grant funding than all the HBCUs combined. That’s not right. That’s problematic.”

Although he is pleased with the increased attention that HBCUs have received in the years following the murder of George Floyd and Breona Taylor, and the subsequent emphasis on diversity and equity, he would like to see those HBCUs beyond the usual brand name HBCUs receiving more attention. As he shared, “HBCU preservation and growth is important.” Allen is hoping that the current emphasis on HBCUs is more of a movement than a moment. As he stated, “The murder of George Floyd and Breona Taylor brought a lot of attention to HBCUs, but we need to make sure it lasts. We must make the case that HBCUs are the best return on investment.”