Huston-Tillotson University is receiving $150 million from the Moody Foundation to expand and upgrade campus buildings and offer more student scholarships.
The donation, which is in honor of the university’s 150th anniversary, is the largest financial gift the Moody Foundation has ever given in its 83-year history. It is also the largest single donation ever made to a historically Black college or university in the country.
“Because we are celebrating our sesquicentennial, 150 years, it is high time that we recalibrate and improve our campus,” Huston-Tillotson University President and CEO Melva K. Wallace said, according to The Texas Tribune.
This is not the first time the Moody Foundation has donated to Huston-Tillotson. In 2024, it gave just under $1 million to the university to help it install air conditioning in the gym and some classrooms.
Huston-Tillotson has over 1,000 students but only two residence halls, which compels many students to live off-campus, a move that is very costly.
With this large donation, the university looks to upgrade some buildings on campus and build new residence halls that will provide housing to about 800 undergraduate and graduate students.
Some of the money will also be used to support students through scholarships to enable more students to graduate debt-free, Wallace said.
At the moment, many students can’t afford the average cost of tuition at Huston-Tillotson, which is $25,000 per year.
“No one has said college has gotten cheaper. Or less expensive,” Wallace said. “It has constantly been a struggle for students who are oftentimes seen as underestimated to afford their dreams.”
The Moody Foundation has said that over the next two decades, it expects to donate $1 billion to enhance education in Texas. Its $150 million donation is now above the $100 million donation to Spelman College in 2024, which was then the largest single donation to a historically Black college or university.
Founded in 1875 by George J. Tillotson, Huston-Tillotson University is “an independent, church-related, historically black, four-year liberal arts institution located on a 23-acre tree-lined campus near downtown in East Austin,” its website says.
