Education Department cuts $350 million for minority-serving grants

The Department of Education will no longer fund discretionary grant programs to several minority-serving institutions, arguing that they violate constitutional protections by prioritizing racial or ethnic quotas to verify eligibility.

According to a press release issued by the Department on Thursday, approximately $350 million in discretionary funds, which were expected to be allocated to support these programs in fiscal year 2025, will now be reallocated to programs “that do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas,” the release reads.

“Discrimination based upon race or ethnicity has no place in the United States,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.

She added that diversity is not merely the presence of skin color, and that stereotyping an individual “based on immutable characteristics” diminishes their potential.

The following discretionary grant programs, which include both 2025 new awards and non-competing continuations, will lose funding:

• Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (Title III Part A)
• Strengthening Predominantly Black Institutions (Title III Part A)
• Strengthening Asian American- and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (Title III Part A)
• Strengthening Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (Title III Part A)
• Minority Science and Engineering Improvement (Title III Part E)
• Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (Title V Part A)
• Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (Title V Part B)

Approximately $132 million in mandatory funds will still be distributed, as they cannot be reprogrammed under current law. Programs receiving these funds include:

• Strengthening Alaska Native- and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (Title III Part F)
• Strengthening Predominantly Black Institutions (Title III Part F)
• Strengthening Asian American- and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (Title III Part F)
• Strengthening Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (Title III Part F), and Developing HSI Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics and Articulation Programs (Title III Part F)

“The Department continues to consider the underlying legal issues associated with the mandatory funding mechanism in these programs,” the release concluded.

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