Hispanic-Serving Institution grants are ended, impacting all colleges in the county.

On Wednesday, Sept. 10, the U.S. Department of Education ended grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Minority-Serving Institutions, resulting in $350 million in cuts affecting 615 colleges and universities nationwide. That includes 167 colleges in California, the largest number in the country.

In Monterey County, CSU Monterey Bay, Monterey Peninsula College and Hartnell College all hold this designation, with an over 50-percent Latino population at CSUMB and MPC and 83 percent at Hartnell.

The HSI designation means that at least 25 percent of undergraduates are Hispanic or Latino, making institutions eligible to apply for federal grants aimed at increasing student support, scholarships and programs.

Locally, HSI grants have provided stipends for STEM students to enroll in internship programs, increased dual enrollment and created pathways between community colleges and CSUMB facilitating a teacher career pipeline.

“It would negatively impact our students, because state funding that the college receives doesn’t allow us to meet all of the needs and provide these types of creative and innovative programs and services that really address their needs outside the classroom,” says Beccie Michael, vice president of advancement at MPC and executive director of the MPC Foundation.

The Trump administration claimed this funding was discriminatory. “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,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a press release.

While the grants had an HSI tagline, programs and funds benefited colleges and universities as a whole.

CSUMB has five active HSI grants; two are in their final year and won’t be affected.

At MPC, an E=MC2 STEM grant is still active; they are unsure whether they’ll receive the remaining $823,700. “We’ve been able to embed tutors in math classes – that obviously helps all students in those classes,” Michael adds.

Hartnell has two active grants. Ganas – a five-year, $3 million grant focused on job placement and transfer opportunities – will continue; the Ánimo grant – aimed at improving student success – has been suspended, meaning $1.2 million will no longer come to Hartnell.