When I started working on a reporting project about the underfunding of Tennessee State University, I had a goal in mind: Calculate the definitive number of how much the state owes TSU.
The state legislature put out a report several years ago with one calculation: $544 million.
The Biden administration put out a report a couple years later with a much larger number: $2.1 billion.
Why were they so different? Were either of them correct? Surely, I thought, math is math.
It turns out, there’s a reason why no one can agree on the number. First of all, it’s incredibly arduous to track down government budget books from decades past, not to mention long-defunct state and federal laws. Second, you have to know how to read the budget books. And then, when there are inevitable gaps, you have to make mathematical assumptions.
So, when WPLN’s Camellia Burris and I finally put out “The Debt,” we decided to show the state’s potential debt to TSU in a different way.
Rather than come up with a definitive number, we explain four different kinds of debts that people have calculated.
The goal is to show the breadth and depth of this underfunding — which is staggering.
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WHAT TO KNOW
$2.1 billion became the rallying cry on TSU’s campus after a Biden administration report, but it didn’t gain political traction. Credit: Alexis Marshall / WPLN News (file)Every Southern state founded at least one Black public university during the Jim Crow era, as part of their efforts to maintain segregation while remaining eligible for federal funds. In Tennessee, that became Tennessee State University (TSU).
And across the South, state governments poorly funded these universities — both during segregation and for years after.
Here are four ways to estimate the underpayment.
State land grant funds since 1957: $544 million
As a land grant school, TSU is entitled to federal funding for certain agriculture programs. The state is then legally required to match those funds. But in 2021, the Tennessee legislature found the state failed to allocate any matching funds to TSU from 1957 through 2007, with a total sum of up to $544 million — although that number doesn’t account for inflation. The legislature has since budgeted $250 million in backpay.
State land grant funds before 1957: Unknown
State Rep. Harold Love, D-Nashville, is still calculating how much matching money was missing before 1957. He declined to say whether he would bring it up in the next legislative session. “I would probably work on the rest of the $544 (million) first,” he told us. “It’s been my experience that people like to get one thing and then move to the next.”
Per-pupil spending since 1987: $2.1 billion
In 2023, the Biden administration researched how much Tennessee spent overall, per pupil, at its two land grant universities: TSU and University of Tennessee. It found that the state spent significantly more on each UT student compared to each TSU student, for a total financial gap of $2.1 billion since 1987. This figure became a rallying cry on TSU’s campus, but Republican lawmakers in Tennessee quickly dismissed it as a “political number.” (The Trump administration has not shown the same interest in historical underfunding at public HBCUs.)
Segregation scholarships in the ’30s-’60s: $8 billion
During segregation, Black students couldn’t attend UT, and TSU had limited options for graduate programs. So in the 1930s, Tennessee started paying for Black residents to go to grad school out of state — and with money that came out of TSU’s budget. Emory University historian Crystal Sanders estimates that, with inflation, Tennessee owes TSU about $8 billion for the funds it took for these “segregation scholarships.” Using historical records is pivotal to making the political case for repayment, she says: “This is about a debt that the state owes, and states have to pay their debts.”
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On today’s episode of the NashVillagerpodcast with host Nina Cardona 🎙️
It’s been quite a year for everyone’s favorite: country star, actress, philanthropist (and just plain good person) Dolly Parton. Plus, the local news for Dec. 19, 2025, and the final installment of The Debt.
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MORE TO KNOW
- How are local newsrooms contending with AI?Depends on who you ask. WKMS’s Lily Burris talked to several newsrooms in Kentucky, and the response was mixed. Crittenden Press, a local weekly newspaper, said the publication uses AI. Paxton Media Group, which owns several papers in the region and a local news station, has an AI policy. But the WKMS newsroom does not employ generative AI at all. “I have some journalists who are totally opposed,” said Beth Mann with Edge Media Group. “But then we also have some people who say, ‘I can see how some of these tools could help me do my job better.’”
- A Tennessee man who spent more than a month in jail because of a social media post about Charlie Kirk is suing Perry County and its sheriff. The lawsuit alleges that the sheriff’s office violated Larry Bushart’s first amendment rights when it detained him over his critique of gun violence in the wake of Kirk’s death. Bushart is a retired police officer and says that he has respect for the law, but that the sheriff’s actions amount to censorship. Bushart was arrested in October after reposting a quote from President Donald Trump in a Facebook comment about Kirk’s assassination. The quote reads, “We have to get over it,” and is attributed to the president one day after a school shooting in Iowa. Bushart’s bail was first set at $2 million.
- Cases of whooping cough in Nashville have tripled compared to last year, amid a nationwide surge. The illness, also known as pertussis, is caused by bacteria that cling to tiny hair-like structures in the respiratory system and cause damage. The infection can be especially dangerous for infants. The Tennessean reportslocal doctors are calling for people of all ages to get vaccinated to prevent the disease from spreading, although infants under two months of age aren’t eligible for the vaccine. So doctors also recommend that expecting parents, grandparents, and others who will be in close contact with babies get vaccinated or boosted.
FROM WNXP
Their production of Charlotte’s Web is happening through January 4. “Nothing makes me happier than when a kid comes to see a show and decides they want more,” executive artistic director Jenilee Houghton said. “I saw my first show at three or four years old, and I was stuck.”
Jenilee spoke to WNXP’s Marquis Munson about the performance, including what to expect: crafts in the lobby, wiggles and giggles during the performance, and low pressure for kids to stay quiet.
Check out Marquis’s full roster of event recommendations.
FROM THIS IS NASHVILLE
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