Sarahi Sanchez Soto credits the resources at Reedley College in the Central Valley — counseling, math tutoring, a food pantry — with strengthening her resolve to study computer science and information studies and transfer from the community college to a four-year university.
The lab and a dedicated counselor that have supported her are funded by a Hispanic-Serving Institution grant, through a federal program available to colleges where Latino students make up at least 25% of enrollment.
“Once I started doing this program, I started noticing that the college course material was something that I could do,” said Soto, who also took advantage of dual community college courses in high school. “It wasn’t difficult. And if it was difficult, I had these support systems that were able to help me.”
But now, the future of the support she receives and other initiatives funded by HSI grants are in peril. The Trump administration is eliminating the grant programs for HSIs and other Minority-Serving Institutions. In announcing the cuts last month, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the grants “discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas.”
Much of the tension between the Trump administration and higher education has focused on cuts to science and medical research at elite universities. But at California’s community colleges, which don’t conduct research, the HSI and MSI grant cuts are the most consequential federal cut yet, targeting services meant to support students such as Soto working to overcome hurdles in their college journeys.
At least 97 of the state’s 116 community colleges are designated as HSIs. The colleges with active grants have until next year to spend funds that they have already received. Then such federal funding — about $20 million statewide — will be eliminated.
The State Center Community College District, home to Reedley and three other colleges, has set aside $4 million of its own budget to cover lost federal funding. The district’s total operating budget is about $500 million. In the short term, the money set aside to pay for federal losses will sustain the dual enrollment program and other initiatives funded by HSI grants.
“I’m not sure all districts are in a financial place where they could do this sort of thing,” said Carole Goldsmith, chancellor of the district. “But we’ve been planning for a rainy day, and this certainly is that rainy day.”
Colleges scrambling to make up for losses
Without federal funding, the long-term future of the programs are in question.
Reedley is one of many community colleges across the state trying to figure out what’s next for a variety of initiatives funded by HSI and other MSI grants. Projects now at risk include a guided pathways program at Las Positas College in Alameda County and extra support for students pursuing STEM degrees at College of the Canyons in the Santa Clarita Valley. At Glendale Community College, grants have funded tutoring, counseling and seminars, among other efforts, to help Latino students close academic achievement gaps with their peers.
Sonya Christian, the statewide chancellor for the community colleges, said she has asked local district and college presidents to look at their budgets to determine how they can continue offering services that had been funded by federal grants now in jeopardy. The current state budget also includes a $60-million block grant, to be divided among the community colleges, that is meant to mitigate federal cuts.
“We have to support our students,” she said in an interview. “Our colleges are scrambling to figure out how they can have continuity in the services that we have promised.”
The state’s four-year universities are also affected by the HSI grant cuts. All but one of the California State University’s 22 campuses are designated as HSIs, as are five of the nine University of California undergraduate campuses. Several private universities around the state also have the designation. Many of those campuses receive HSI grants, but the bigger concern for those bachelor- and advanced-degree-granting institutions is the separate threat of losing federal research funding.
The Trump administration also eliminated grant programs for other Minority-Serving Institutions, including colleges enrolling high numbers of Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiian students, Asian American students, and Black students. The cuts to HSIs and other MSIs totaled $350 million nationwide, funds the administration said it is redirecting to what are formally known as historically Black colleges and universities — a separate group of mainly older schools that were founded in reaction to segregation — as well as to tribal colleges.
California is attempting to fill the void
Chancellor Christian’s office is also in discussions with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, the state attorney general’s office, and legislators as they explore the potential for a state-based HSI grant.
Christian defended the HSI grants against the Trump administration’s claims that they are discriminatory and unconstitutional. She said that while colleges qualify for grants based on their demographics, the initiatives that get funded are open to all students. “It’s inclusionary,” she said. “It’s not exclusionary.”
This month, College of the Canyons was supposed to be entering the third year of a five-year, $3-million HSI grant. Among other initiatives, the grant funded a counselor position and the creation of Project SOL, a program designed to support students pursuing a degree in science, technology, engineering or math. It’s tailored toward Latino students but is open to any student.
About 300 students are participating this fall in the program, which will continue to operate at least through December. Students get access to extra counseling, STEM-focused workshops and on-campus events, such as panel discussions featuring STEM professionals.
The college plans to find a new home for the program, but it likely won’t get as much funding.
Soto, the Reedley student, said she worries that other students across California won’t get the same opportunities as she did and might be left thinking that college isn’t for them.
“I can’t even fathom it,” she said. “These resources had such a big impact on me, and now you’re cutting those connections for future students.”
Burke is a reporter for EdSource, a nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism organization covering education in California.
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