Trump administration, Congress leave Hispanic-serving colleges confused over funding 

California colleges are looking for answers about the status of a federal grant program serving colleges that enroll many Hispanic students, amid mixed messages from Congress and the Trump administration.

When the U.S. Department of Education moved last year to end the grant programs for Hispanic-Serving Institutions and other Minority Serving Institutions, most campuses had accepted that they would lose the ability to seek the extra federal funding. At the time, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon maintained the grant programs were discriminatory and unconstitutional. 

But the latest federal spending deal, reached this month by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, has given colleges some renewed hope. The budget maintained level funding for Title V and Part A of Title III, the two federal grant programs that support HSIs and MSIs. 

“It’s hard to make sense of it,” said Greg Smith, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, which had three HSI grants canceled last year.

Much is at stake. There are 167 HSIs in California, by far the most of any state, and those colleges have received more than $600 million in HSI grants over the past three decades. That funding has supported dual enrollment, graduation initiatives and counseling, among other services. Many campuses have planned to either cut programs funded by HSI grants or look for new funding sources. 

Colleges are eligible for the HSI designation if Hispanic students make up at least 25% of their undergraduate enrollment. 

Congressional representatives have told California college officials that the intent of the spending bill was to try to force the Department of Education to allocate HSI grants this year, said Chris Ferguson, executive vice chancellor of finance and strategic initiatives for the state’s community college system. 

But there is still much uncertainty. The grant programs are discretionary, meaning the department decides whether to hold grant competitions and allocate funds as it chooses. 

Many experts and college leaders have little confidence in the department to support the programs. Jessica Lavariega Monforti, provost at CSU Channel Islands, said the campus hopes “to continue applying for future funding cycles.” But she noted that the spending bill “doesn’t automatically reverse” the Trump administration’s previous declaration that the grant programs are illegal.

Last year, the Trump administration cut $350 million in grant money that was budgeted for MSIs and reallocated it to historically Black colleges and tribal colleges. That included $43 million in cuts for California State University campuses and $20 million for California community colleges. 

There is concern among education leaders and experts that the Trump administration could do something similar this year. 

“I think there are a lot of people in Congress who are going to work as hard as they can to get money for MSIs,” said Marybeth Gasman, executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions, a research center that studies and advocates for MSIs. “On the other hand, we have people in the executive branch who are trying to convince people that supporting MSIs is racist.”

Meanwhile, some college officials and state lawmakers are looking inward for a possible solution, such as changing California law to give colleges more flexibility to backfill lost federal funding. 

Others are holding out hope that federal funding will be available this year.

The state chancellor’s office, which oversees California’s 116 community colleges, is telling local colleges to prepare this summer to apply for HSI grants.

Ferguson, from the chancellor’s office, met this month with representatives in Congress. He said they told him that they were working to ensure HSI grants would be allocated. 

But, Ferguson added, “Is there a risk that the administration will not want to operate it as intended? Yes, absolutely.”

The federal government first established the HSI designation in 1992 and began allocating funding in 1995. Since then, HSIs have had significant bipartisan support from Congress and from presidents, until the Trump administration. 

Supporters emphasize that the grant money awarded to these colleges typically supports programs and initiatives available to all students, not just Hispanic students.

In a letter last week addressed to McMahon, a number of Democratic senators urged her to allocate the grant money “as Congress intended.”

“Unilaterally deciding that long-standing programs are unconstitutional, absent a ruling from the judiciary, sets a dangerous precedent and disrupts needed support that colleges and students rely on,” wrote the senators, which included Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Caucus. 

If federal grant money isn’t allocated, help could come from the state Legislature.

Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, last week introduced Assembly Bill 2121, which would create a carve-out in existing law to allow community colleges to backfill funding they have lost because of cuts to MSI or TRIO programs, which support low-income students in accessing college. Nationally, 120 federal TRIO programs lost grant money last year.

Under existing law, community colleges are obligated to spend 50% of their budgets on salaries and benefits for classroom instructors. 

AB 2121 would create an exception: For the next five years, or until federal funding is restored, any money colleges spend to backfill losses from federal cuts would be excluded from the calculation of the 50% law. 

 “When President Trump pulls the rug out from under our most vulnerable students, California must fight back, holding firm to our values of equity and access to higher education,” Berman said in a statement.

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