Honoring United Negro College Fund on 60th Anniversary

HONORING UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND ON 60TH ANNIVERSARY -- (House of Representatives - September 29, 2004)

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Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the United Negro College Fund for providing assistance to allow minority students the opportunity of achieving their dream of a college education for 60 years. The Fund is the nation's largest, oldest, most successful and most comprehensive minority higher education assistance organization. Over those 60 years, the United Negro College Fund has raised more than $2 billion to help a total of more than 300,000 students attend college and has distributed more funds to help minorities attend school than any entity outside of the government. UNCF administers over 450 scholarships and fellowships that support students at the undergraduate, graduate and doctoral level. Of those students UNCF helps, 60 percent are the first in their families to attend college and 62 percent have annual family incomes of less than $25,000--reinforcing the fact that without UNCF, those individuals may not have been able to finance their education.

It was the dream of Dr. Frederick D. Patterson in 1943 to raise money collectively with other black college presidents through an "appeal to the national conscience." His call was heard and answered by the Nation. UNCF does amazing work-but more students would get the opportunity of attending and graduating from college if the maximum amount for Pell grants were increased and students were relying less on student loans.

Mr. Speaker-the United Negro College Fund has proven its slogan to be fact--"a mind is a terrible thing to waste".