Students from rural and underserved communities who attend historically Black colleges and universities again have the opportunity to apply for a federal scholarship program after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reopened a temporarily suspended program.
The program’s permanent suspension would have affected Alcorn State University in Mississippi and 18 other HBCUs across the nation.
The USDA 1890 National Scholars Program resumed on Feb. 24, days after being closed pending review, and will accept applications through March 15, USDA officials say. The original deadline was March 1.
“The application process was temporarily suspended pending review to ensure that the program, its mission and its metrics ensure the most efficient use of taxpayer resources. This review was completed late afternoon on February 24, 2025,” a USDA spokesperson told the Mississippi Free Press in a statement on Feb. 25.
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The scholarship program is a partnership between the USDA and the 1890 land-grant universities established under the Second Morrill Act of 1890. The USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement manages the program designed to increase the number of students who study food, agriculture, natural resources and other related sciences at land-grant HBCUs. Those universities are federally funded and tend to have significant agricultural programs. The USDA 1890 National Scholars Program provides scholarship recipients with full tuition, fees, books, room and board. It also can include work experience at the USDA.
Alcorn Already Underfunded
Alcorn State University is the nation’s oldest and Mississippi’s only land-grant HBCU. The school announced its 2025 USDA 1890 scholars on Dec. 19, 2024. The webpage where the press release was located showed an error once the program went under review and has not been restored. The university directed the Mississippi Free Press to the USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement Communications Department on Feb 21. The officer had declined to comment when the MFP first contacted it on Jan. 28 after learning that the program could be in jeopardy.
https://www.facebook.com/AlcornStateU/posts/pfbid02Dx1WwVe6NdrXaXB7WC4fjKoiZxabJ1Pqzbx6We6c29fosiyBJPLQw4SQ8KLHLCRrl?__cft__[0]=AZWzO5RcfAEtzxJAR-To7j8HFNLjsREAsx9a6dogsrigFlzeF2SSiNkdL4MP5wv2WSasxnHdJ47xga6V5IMsEUyt-RqWRu4sVw9YyZVeqiqIAKkfpznc4ozwrB8BPZewROtbUT6a7P8fMpyYjl9YiLAY-UjLzOBV1w1agXuinGMn3Q&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R
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