Trump cuts funds for Hispanic Serving Institutions

On Wed. Sept. 10, the Trump administration decided to cut funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI). These cuts will affect colleges and universities where the undergraduate student population is at least 25% Latine descent. In both the fall 2024 and spring 2025 semesters, Cal Poly Humboldt’s enrollment demographic states about 28% of all students identified as Hispanic or Latino. Currently 21 out of 22 CSU campuses are designated HSIs and Cal Poly Humboldt has been one since October 2013.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated on Sept. 10 that the Department of Education will eliminate $350 million in grants to HSIs. 

“Discrimination based upon race or ethnicity has no place in the United States. 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,” said McMahon in her address.

Aileen Yoo, director of News and Information, said CPH currently has about $3 million in funding for these impacted programs that started in the 2023-2024 academic year. 

The university said they can not provide specifics to how many and which programs are impacted because funds come from a wide range of sponsors, from small nonprofit organizations to federal agencies. Yoo explained that because of this, many awards are not explicitly labeled as HSI grants, making it difficult to calculate how much funding was related to HSI status, or to identify which specific campus programs have directly or indirectly benefited from those funds.

“We are committed to ensuring all students continue to receive the support and resources they need to succeed,” Yoo said. “For now, we remain focused on our mission to serve all students and will keep our stakeholders informed as this situation develops.”

Yaneyry Delfin Martinez is the director of Scholars Without Borders, a space on campus for undocumented and mixed-status students to find general and academic support. Delfin Martinez finds this decision to be alarming for the future of higher education. 

“I want to emphasize that the HSI grant has served all students, not just Latinos,” Delfin Martinez said. “This loss will impact the quality of education across the CSU system.”

Delfin Martinez believes there needs to be more communication to students about how this will impact our campus moving forward. 

“This cut in funding is another attempt from this [presidential] administration to attack latinos,” Delfin Martinez said. “The administration needs to do a better job of protecting the education of their students. Especially with the passing of the legalization of racial profiling when it comes to ICE, the university needs to become better informed. They seem at a lost right now.”

Executive Director of Centro del Pueblo and Coordinator of CPH’s El Centro Academico Cultural de Humboldt, Brenda Pérez, shares the added stress this change puts on the Latine community. 

“I think that the university leadership has been preparing for this type of action and decisions from the federal government,” Pérez said. “What is going to affect of course, and impact is in the already thick environment around support for Hispanic students, Latine students, Chicanx students, or the way we feel are not supported in institutions.”