The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced Wednesday that it will end $350 million in discretionary funding for colleges that serve large populations of minority students, arguing that such programs amount to unconstitutional “racial quotas.”
The cuts will affect eight longstanding grant programs that support Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander students nationwide. The department said roughly $132 million will continue flowing to four of the programs because Congress specifically mandated those funds, but all other discretionary support will be halted.
“Discrimination based upon race or ethnicity has no place in the United States,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in an ED press release. “The department looks forward to working with Congress to re-envision these programs to support institutions that serve underprepared or under-resourced students, without relying on race quotas.”
The move follows a lawsuit filed by Tennessee and the conservative group Students for Fair Admissions, which challenged the legality of Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) programs. The Trump administration declined to defend the initiative in court. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the policy violated “the equal-protection component of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause,” citing Supreme Court precedent against race-conscious admissions.
The Education Department said that reasoning applies to all minority-focused college grant programs and endorsed the view that they are unconstitutional.
Critics contend the administration is overstepping its authority. Amanda Fuchs Miller, a former deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs under President Joe Biden, told The Washington Post that ending the grants is “contrary to statute and harmful to under-resourced schools who rely on this money to support all of their students.”
“Schools who are in the middle of their grant periods are being given less than a month to plan as their grants aren’t being continued,” Miller said. “And, just earlier this month [the Education Department] ran competitions for many of these programs, wasting time and resources for those who applied.”
Democratic lawmakers also condemned the move, warning earlier this year that vague language in a federal funding bill could allow the administration to target programs it opposed. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called the decision “yet another example of how President Trump is putting politics ahead of students.”
The department has not specified where the $350 million in cut funding will be redirected, saying only that it will go toward programs that do not rely on race or ethnicity in determining eligibility.
