Friday, March 14, 2003

Senate Committee Approves $250-Million Technology Program for Minority Colleges By DAN CARNEVALE Washington A committee of the U.S. Senate approved a bill on Thursday that would create a $250-million grant program to help minority-serving colleges develop digital and wireless technologies. The bill, S 196, passed by voice vote in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Sen. George Allen, a Virginia Republican, sponsored the legislation. He has said it would help institutions with predominantly minority populations improve their technology infrastructures (The Chronicle, February 14). The National Science Foundation would oversee the grant program, which would receive authorization for five years under the bill. Included in the legislation is a requirement that recipients match at least one-fourth of the grant money they receive with money they have raised themselves. That stipulation would be waived for institutions with endowments of less than $50-million. The full Senate is expected to take up the bill, although staff members don't know when. If the bill ultimately passes, Congress would still have to find room in the increasingly tight budget to pay for the grant program. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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