Member Advisory - October 3, 2008

USDA to Host Stakeholder Meeting on New HSI Farm Bill Provisions at HACU Annual Conference

The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is requesting stakeholder input in developing regulations for identifying and certifying institutions as Hispanic-serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACUs), a new group of educational institutions established in the Farm Bill reauthorization. CSREES is also requesting input in developing regulations for five new Farm Bill programs for HSACUs. The meeting will be held on Sunday, October 12, 2008, from 3:00-6:30 p.m. in room Capitol 4 at the Hyatt Regency Denver Hotel in conjunction with HACU’s 22nd Annual Conference.

Hispanic-serving Agricultural Colleges and Universities (HSACUs) were established in the reauthorization of the Farm Bill and defined HSACUs as: 1) colleges or universities that qualify as Hispanic-serving institutions and 2) that offer associate, bachelors, or other accredited degree programs in agriculture-related fields. HSACUs do not include 1862 land grant institutions.

The competitive grants section of the Farm Bill identifies the following academic fields as critical to the USDA: agriculture, human nutrition, food science, bio-energy, and environmental science. The stakeholders meeting will provide an opportunity for HSIs to further break down the area of agriculture to include disciplines that IPEDS lists as agriculture and food science-related. This classification will have a tremendous impact on which colleges and universities will be eligible for HSACU-related grants.

In addition, the legislation authorizes the five new programs for HSACUs:

• The HSACU Endowment Fund - - A new program that on October 1 of each fiscal year will distribute 60 percent of the interest accrued in the fund among the HSACUs on a pro-rata basis based on the Hispanic enrollment. The other 40 percent will be equally distributed among HSACUs. This fund will be enrollment-driven in order to ensure that, regardless of the institution’s total enrollment of Hispanic students, the institution will be able to provide an education experience in agriculture and related fields.
• The HSACU Equity Grants Program - - A new formula-based grant program ($80,000 by number of HSACUs) and promises to be a valuable program for HSACUs that need extra resources to build capacity for faculty training and infrastructure in order to compete for grants open to all 1862, 1890 and 1994 land grant institutions.
• The HSACU Institutional Capacity-Building Grants Program - - A new competitive grant program for institutional capacity-building (not including alteration, repair, renovation, or construction of buildings).
• The HSACU Fundamental and Applied Research Grants Program - - A new competitive grant program to fund fundamental and applied research in agriculture, human nutrition, food science, bio-energy and environmental science.
• The HSACU Extension Grants Program - - This program will ensure that HSACUs will have access to the two major extension programs (406 and AFRI). In addition, HSACUs without the research and outreach capacity of 1862 and 1994 institutions will have access to funding for cooperative extension work through a special competitive grant program.

CSREES is requesting stakeholder input in the identification and certification of institutions as HSACUs and on the implementation of the five new HSACU programs. This is a critical opportunity for HSIs with agriculture-related degree programs to help shape the regulations that will identify HSACUs and define the five new funding opportunities for them. There will be ONLY 20 five minute speaking slots available during this listening session. Individuals must pre-register to speak by contacting Mr. John Miklozek at (202) 720-1254, at (202) 720-2030 (fax), or at HSACU@csrees.usda.gov. It will be important for all HSIs to be present and we strongly encourage you to attend, to register to speak, and to submit written testimony before October 27, 2008.

The full announcement can be found at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-22418.htm.

HACU has identified the following issues that might be worth your consideration and input at this meeting:

1. How should the HSACU definition be interpreted with respect to “that offer associate, bachelors or other accredited degree programs on agriculture-related fields”?
2. Should there be a matching fund requirement in any of the competitive grants to ensure “buy in” on the purpose for the program?
3. What information should institutions be required to provide to be certified as an HSACU?
4. What should be the typical grant period (in years) for the competitive grants? Currently USDA-HSI Title VII grants are for three years. Should the new ones be the same? Are three years enough for R&D-focused grants? What about for the Institutional Capacity Building Grant Program, which will also provide equipment? Should this be a one-time grant? How can we assure equitable participation if more than 75 HSIs become HSACUs?
5. In order to ensure that community colleges (compared to 4-year institutions) receive a fair number of these grants, should community colleges be given additional support to guarantee an equitable opportunity in grant competitions?
6. Should the rule-making process for distribution of grants give extra weight to transfer and articulation agreements between 2- and 4-year institutions?
7. Should HSACUs be allowed or encouraged to develop articulation programs with Hispanic-Serving School Districts in their service areas?

HACU Member Advisories are a service of
the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.