Senate HELP Committee urges Department of Education to continue to fund Minority-Serving Institutions

Members of the Senate HELP Committee signed a letter to U.S. Department of Education expressing opposition to recent actions stripping away funds from Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). The letter noted the decision was made absent a court ruling, and "needlessly disrupts the fiscal stability of thousands of colleges and universities that educate millions of students of all ethnicities and backgrounds."

The letter made clear that it was Congress that established MSI programs in a bipartisan reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in 1986, receiving bipartisan support over six administrations, and Congressional appropriations for 39 years on a bipartisan basis. The letter provided data on the chronic underfunding of MSIs, institutions that still manage "to deliver an affordable, high-quality education and achieve substantial positive outcomes for all the students they serve." Among the data points was the 2023 placement of Hispanic Serving Institutions in eight of the top ten colleges in the Social Mobility Index rankings, measuring which colleges and universities enable students to find good paying jobs after graduation.

Committee members noted that President Trump signed the FUTURE Act into law during his first term, which secured permanent funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges (TCCUS), and MSIs. Committee members stated that they "vehemently disagree with the Department of Justice's opinion that these institutions apply 'racial quotas' in a manner that is unconstitutional, as well as the Department of Education's decision to cut funding from all MSIs, even though PBIs, AANHSIs, AANAPISIs, and NASNTIs have not been the subject of any litigation."

The Senate HELP Committee urged the Department of Education to reverse course and continue to fund MSIs that need the critical resources for the students they serve.

Read the full letter here.