Land Grant Covenant

The federal budget proposed by the Bush Administration would end what has been called the “Land Grant Covenant” that has existed for nearly 150 years. What this meant was that federal lands were given to each state to create public universities (the land grant universities) and federal funds (requiring a state match) “were provided with an expectation that the education provided and the knowledge and technology developed would also serve the state and the region.”

At a land grant university like the University of New Hampshire, this means an impact of $6.5M/yr (calculate the loss to your own state), and the loss of 95 positions per year, including (at UNH) “the likely closure of all farms managed by the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture.”

This and other agricultural sciences would be lost, though (it’s being proposed) grants may make up some of the lost revenue under the President’s budget. This seems like a step backwards that the federal government is proposing.