Trump administration ends $350M grant program that aided Latino-serving colleges

The Department of Education (DOE) announced Wednesday that it will end a decades-old grant program that aided designated Hispanic Serving Institutions, affecting hundreds of thousands of students in post-secondary institutions. 

Up until Wednesday, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) were public and private colleges and universities designated by the DOE that had at least 25% of its students identifying as Hispanic or Latino, with half of its students enrolled in colleges on need-based scholarships. As of 2024, the federal government had 602 institutions designated as HSIs in 29 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

This announcement comes after a lawsuit was filed against the Department of Education by the state of Tennessee and student advocate group Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA). The lawsuit claimed that the $350 million grant program under Title V of the Higher Education Act was “discriminatory and unconstitutional” against schools that didn’t meet the 25% Hispanic threshold.

“The Department agrees that the racial quotas in the HSI programs are unconstitutional,” the DOE announcement reads. “Due to similar issues with all MSI (Minority Serving Institutions) programs, the Department is using its statutory authority to reprogram discretionary funds to programs that do not present such concerns.” 

The DOE also said it would end funding for seven minority-serving grants for public institutions. Those include grants for Native American, predominantly Black and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions. The funds intended for these programs will be redirected to other initiatives that “do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas and that advance Administration priorities.” 

The LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a national civil rights organization, condemned the cut, describing it as a devastating blow and saying that HSI funding provided resources to more than just Hispanic or Latino students.

“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 STEM fields, as well as enhancing the communities where these colleges and universities are located,” said Francisca Fajana, director of Racial Justice Strategy at LatinoJustice PRLDEF.

“We can’t allow decades of progress to be erased. LatinoJustice and HACU will continue to fight alongside students and institutions to defend these essential programs and ensure that opportunity, equity and investment in higher education are not rolled back,” Fajana said.

According to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Arizona has 20 post-secondary institutions designated as HSIs. Those include all 10 of Maricopa Community Colleges (MCC), Arizona State University (ASU), University of Arizona (UA) and Northern Arizona University (NAU). Nearly 275,000 students attend HSIs in Arizona, yet less than half identify as Latino or Hispanic.

CALÓ News reached out to Arizona universities and colleges for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Students at ASU voiced their disappointment with the DOE’s decision. 

“This news is extremely disheartening to see this valuable funding is being pulled from HSI’s. The grants allocated to HSI support student learning, retention and graduation rates,” said Allison Castillo, a sophomore with ASU’s El Concilio. “Although this is a step in the wrong direction, we cannot give up.”

All in Education, an Arizona education advocacy group, voiced their concerns with the HSI funding being pulled, saying that students and employers will be affected. 

“The loss of HSI funding would have far-reaching consequences: reducing access and opportunity for millions of students and limiting the ability of HSIs to prepare diverse, homegrown talent for the workforce,” said Anaiise Ballesteros, vice president of All In Education.“At a time when employers urgently need skilled workers, cutting these resources jeopardizes economic mobility for families and threatens the vitality of entire regions that depend on educated graduates to drive innovation and growth.”

In August, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would not defend the DOE in the HSI lawsuit, following a letter from the U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer to the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, advising the department not to do so.

“The Department of Justice has determined that those provisions violate the equal­ protection component of the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause,” Sauer wrote. 

With the end of the grant program, the DOE plans to redistribute those funds so that they are “reprogrammed into programs that do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas and that advance Administration priorities.”

Ghadiel Navarrete is a freelance reporter based in Phoenix, Arizona. He graduated in 2024 from ASU with a bachelor’s in Political Science and Journalism.