Trump Education Department to divert grants from colleges serving students of color

The U.S. Department of Education announced it will withhold $350 million of congressionally approved funds to minority-serving colleges. (John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education announced it will withhold $350 million of congressionally approved funds to minority-serving colleges and universities and divert the funds elsewhere, saying that the institutions’ admissions quotas are discriminatory.  

The move eliminated fiscal 2025 discretionary funding for institutions that serve students who are Asian, Black, Indigenous and Hispanic, as well as a program for students of color pursuing careers in science and engineering. It’s consistent with President Donald Trump’s longstanding objective to eliminate programs that center on diversity, equity and inclusion.

“To further our commitment to ending discrimination in all forms across federally supported programs, the Department will no longer award Minority-Serving Institution grants that discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.

McMahon cited a July opinion from the U.S. Justice Department that it was unconstitutional for federal funds to go to Hispanic-serving institutions based on the student body makeup.

That opinion reversed a decades-long record of the federal government setting aside funding for higher education institutions that have a significant portion of students from racial or ethnic minority backgrounds. 

The schools affected by Wednesday’s announcement are Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions; Black institutions; Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions; Native American-serving nontribal institutions; and institutions receiving Minority Science and Engineering Improvement grants. 

The announcement was vague about where the money would go instead, saying only it would be diverted “into programs that do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas and that advance Administration priorities.”

Up to 800 schools affected

Democrats swiftly condemned the move, which is likely to face legal challenges.

Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the ranking member on the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, said in a statement that the move undercut efforts to help students of color reach financial stability.

“These institutions are effective engines of economic mobility because they meet students where they are and are dedicated to educating the whole person,” Scott said in a statement.

Roughly 5 million students are enrolled in the more than 800 minority-serving institutions across the country. The schools aim to help students of color and students from low-income backgrounds pursue higher education. 

Most of the minority-serving schools receive funding based on racial quotas, except for Black institutions and tribal colleges, whose designations are based on their historical missions to educate Black or Native American students.

The Department of Education will also reprogram funds from a program to develop Hispanic-serving institutions and from a program promoting postbaccalaureate opportunities for Hispanic Americans.

McMahon argued that because most minority-serving institutions require that a percentage of the student body reflect the racial background the institutions serve, it violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protections. 

Administration cites equal protections

McMahon pointed to the Justice Department’s July memo saying it would not defend a suit brought by the state of Tennessee against Hispanic-serving institutions. 

The Supreme Court has explained that ‘[o]utright racial balancing’ is ‘patently unconstitutional,’” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson. 

“And its precedents make clear that the government lacks any legitimate interest in differentiating among universities based on whether ‘a specified number of seats in each class’ are occupied by ‘individuals from the preferred ethnic groups,’” Sauer wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court case that Sauer cited in his letter to Johnson is the 2023 decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions that found two prominent universities’ consideration of race in acceptances violated the U.S. Constitution.

Most minority-serving institutions, about 70%, are Hispanic-serving institutions, according to Rutgers University’s Center for Minority Serving Institutions.

David Mendez, the head of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, an advocacy group, said in a statement that the loss in funding is “an attack on equity in higher education.”

“Cutting this funding strips away critical investments in under-resourced and first-generation students and will destabilize colleges in 29 states,” Mendez said. “The funds granted to HSIs have never supported only Latino students. These funds strengthen entire campuses, creating opportunities and resources that benefit all students, especially those pursuing (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, as well as enhancing the communities where these colleges and universities are located.”