BlueCross and BlueShield donates $6.4 million to HBCUs.

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina has donated more than $6.4 million to historically Black colleges and universities across the state to help finance technology infrastructure, eLearning platforms, health services, stipends and scholarships, among other resources.

Recipients include Allen University and Benedict College in Columbia, Claflin University in Orangeburg, Morris College in Sumter and Voorhees College in Denmark. The colleges have a total attendance of 6,300 students.

The financial affects of COVID-19 are being especially felt at private HBCUs that receive little to no public funding and have a larger proportion of low-income students that live in areas without high-speed internet access, according to a news release.

"It has been well reported that the coronavirus revealed our minority communities encounter profound disparities in many ways," David Pankau, president and CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, said in the release. "At BlueCross, we believe healthy communities are defined not only by access to health care services but also by the fostering of opportunity that comes from...