NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Money earmarked to help minority business owners learn and grow may now be getting used to help keep Fisk University afloat.
This comes after city leaders gave Fisk $10 million in COVID relief money to refurbish a building to house the Freeman Incubation and Innovation Center to support the next generation of minority-owned start-ups and entrepreneurs.
Watch me explain this situation in the player above.
But this week, Fisk leaders went in front of that same group — Metro’s COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee — asking if they could instead use the money to help cover a tuition shortfall created by this year's FAFSA delays, which is the application students use to apply for federal student aid.
Other private universities like Belmont are experiencing similar financial issues because of FAFSA, but some members of the committee said it's not fair to compare the two because Fisk doesn't have large endowments to keep them afloat.
"Those other private institutions, there’s no need for them to come here, because they have huge endowments that Fisk does not have," said Jennifer Gamble, committee member and Metro Councilwoman. "So to compare Fisk to other universities is really unfair."
The committee voted to allow Fisk to use the money to help shore up its financial situation instead of immediately using it for the entrepreneur center though Metro Council would get the final say.
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