Commission on Higher Education presents $77 million request and targeted line items including HBCU consortium and cyber insurance

Dr. Purcell, speaking for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE), presented the commission’s budget request and a set of targeted program asks to a joint legislative committee, highlighting items not included in the governor’s recommendation.

Why it matters: ACHE’s budget underpins scholarships, workforce pipelines into teaching and STEM fields, and programmatic supports for campuses statewide. Several relatively small targeted grants — for HBCU capacity-building, teacher recruitment and student tracking — could influence campus programs and student services.

Purcell said ACHE’s operating request is roughly $77 million and noted that the commission manages a growing set of financial-aid programs ("about $24,000,000 in financial aid programs" managed directly by ACHE). He described six new program requests and several increases to continuing programs.

Key line items Purcell highlighted included:

- HBCU consortium: $650,000 to revive consortium support that previously shifted between budget lines, with an emphasis on capacity-building (Purcell said consortium work includes training faculty and an accounting/tax-preparation initiative).

- Special-education rural scholarship pilot: $250,000 to establish cohort-based scholarships and stipends aimed at recruiting special-education teachers from rural communities and encouraging them to return to rural districts; Purcell said the scholarship would operate as a "last-dollar" award layered on Pell and could include a residential component.

- Cyber insurance and security remediation: Purcell told the committee ACHE is not currently covered by state risk management for data breaches and is being asked to obtain cyber insurance; he said associated costs include required risk assessments, technical controls and the insurance premium (Purcell noted the premium itself "certainly isn't a $150,000" figure but that risk-assessment and qualification costs add to the total).

- National Student Clearinghouse reporting: Purcell requested roughly $100,000 to restore a long-standing data contract that now costs materially more than ACHE’s prior commitment (he said the service previously cost about $20,000 annually and now approaches $80,000–$85,000 a year).

- STEM teacher recruitment: a $1 million increase request for the existing STEM-major teacher recruitment program.

- Network of Alabama Academic Libraries: a $200,000 request to bolster statewide library subscriptions and avoid cuts to digital journals.

Purcell also described the reEngage program (assistance for adults with some college and no degree). He said the program formerly provided $3,000 per semester at four-year institutions and $1,500 at community colleges and that ACHE seeks to expand eligibility (including lowering the age threshold from 25 to 22 and adding some associate graduates). He said current earmarks include 550 slots at four-year institutions and 507 community-college slots described as "earmarked, not necessarily awarded."

Committee members asked for more detail about the HBCU consortium’s activities and for ACHE to brief the committee; Representative Daniels said he had not engaged previously with the consortium and requested a briefing. Representative Chestnut pressed for rural prioritization in the special-education scholarship, and Purcell said the enabling language will be general enough to allow the commission to develop criteria emphasizing rural need.

Purcell closed by asking legislators to consider that some ACHE line items are constrained by appropriation-unit rules and are not fungible across program buckets, and he asked for support to move some supplemental-funded items into the commission’s base appropriation.