Heritage University had big plans for the final disbursement of a $3 million federal grant it was expecting to see next month.

With the remaining $600,000 in grant money, the small, private university in Toppenish, Washington, planned to finish renovations of its biology lab and make other school-wide improvements. But now those projects are on hold after the U.S. Department of Education abruptly terminated the school’s grant late last week.

“Ongoing biology lab renovations are only 75% complete,” Heritage biology professor Melvin Simoyi said in an email. “[Funding for] several major IT upgrades are lost, Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program Learning Center and software funding is lost and financial literacy course funding is lost.”

Heritage is one of more than two dozen colleges and universities in the Pacific Northwest that are beginning to see the impact of a Trump administration action that eliminates funding to certain schools designated as Minority-Serving Institutions, or MSIs. The Education Department argues the grants discriminate against students. But advocates of these grants say the funding boosts retention and graduation rates and ultimately benefits entire student populations.

MSIs are colleges that the federal government has identified as either serving a large percentage of students of color or schools with historical missions to serve a specific racial or ethnic group. About a fifth of all higher education institutions in the nation qualify as an MSI. These schools educate more than half of all low-income and students of color in undergraduate programs in the U.S.

Most MSIs do not automatically receive additional funding from the federal government. Instead, the designation allows schools to apply for specific grants. These grants have been an important lifeline for schools like Heritage, a federally designated Hispanic Serving-Institution and Native American-Serving Nontribal Institution. More than 75% of the university’s students identify as Latino.

“Without this support, the university would face the possibility of reduced capacity to maintain essential programs, a likely decline in student enrollment and retention and a diminished ability to provide the high-quality, culturally responsive education that is central to our mission,” Heritage President Chris Gilmer said in an email.

Schools use the federal money to fund a wide variety of support services for students regardless of their ethnicity - programs such as academic advising, mentoring, scholarships and basic needs support. It can also be used to fund infrastructure and building upgrades.

Research from the MSI Data Project and the American Council on Education has shown that these grants are associated with higher graduation rates and higher retention rates among low-income students of color. Students who attended MSI-funded colleges also showed higher earnings post-graduation than students enrolled at MSI-eligible schools that did not apply for additional funding.

The grant-funded supports help all students, said Western Oregon University Executive Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dominique Vargas.

“The work we’re doing is really about everybody. We’re not in the business of excluding people.” Vargas said. “We’re in the business of universal access, universal opportunity for all of our students.”

Western became Oregon’s first four-year, public university to receive an HSI designation earlier this year. The university had not yet applied for additional grant funding.

Portland State University saw a $1.9 million grant related to its Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution status cancelled last week. The five-year grant, which was awarded in 2023, allowed PSU to hire a visiting scholar to develop and teach a new Pacific Islander curriculum and launch a student support program tailored to Pacific Islander students.

“These initiatives empowered our Pacific Islander and Asian American students and had a positive impact on our entire campus community,” said Portland State professor Betty Izumi in a statement. She said the university is exploring all options to avoid disruptions in programs that were funded by the grant.

The Trump administration’s move to terminate MSI grants is part of its wider effort to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs among the nation’s higher education institutions.

“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 U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a press release last week.

Earlier this week, the Education Department revealed that the $350 million in MSI discretionary funding for fiscal year 2025 will instead be reallocated to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities. HBCUs and TCUs’ federal MSI designation is based on their mission rather than on student enrollment numbers.

Higher education advocates worry that these moves from the Trump administration could pit universities against each other.

“We urge the U.S. Department of Education to reconsider their decision to eliminate these vital resources that benefit all students who attend these often under-resourced institutions,” said Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, or HACU, President David Mendez in a statement. “We also urge our partners at HBCUs and TCUs to stand in solidarity with the broader MSI community in opposing and reversing the decision to eliminate dedicated MSI funding.”

The constitutionality of MSIs in general is also in question.

A lawsuit brought by the state of Tennessee and the anti-affirmative action group Students For Fair Admissions earlier this year argues that federal funding for HSIs is unconstitutional. In a memo this summer, the Justice Department announced it would not defend the program, agreeing with the plaintiffs that it is discriminatory in nature. HACU has filed a motion to intervene in the case.

For some schools, these MSI designations are a core part of their mission to serve students. Gilmer, with Heritage University, said federal investments in MSIs allow schools to provide stability and equal opportunities to their students.

“The loss or alteration of these designations would diminish an important way of helping others quickly grasp who our students are, the communities we serve and why investment in their success matters,” Gilmer said. “These definitions are essential validation of our history and essential commitments to our present and future.”

Reneé Dìaz from OPB news partner Northwest Public Broadcasting contributed to this report.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/17/pacific-northwest-college-funding-cuts-programs-trump/