Statement on ED’s Decision to Eliminate Funding for Minority-Serving Institutions

Contact: Kellee Edmonds (202) 478-4662 [email protected]

WASHINGTON, September 11, 2025 - The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) adamantly opposes the Department of Education's decision to stop awarding over $350 million in grants to all Minority-serving Institutions (MSIs). These colleges and universities are vital links between millions of low-income families in hundreds of thousands of communities and their hopes of a better future through the attainment of higher education.

The department has chosen to make this ill-considered announcement as Hispanic Heritage Month is about to start. It is an affront to the educational aspirations of millions of students of all races who depend on the services, infrastructure, and programming these grants make possible. MSIs are undersupported institutions that compete for five-year grants to further develop their faculty, create student-centered services that lead to improved outcomes for everyone on campus, and support articulation agreements between two- and four-year colleges and universities, among other activities.

There are over 800 MSIs across the country, an increase from 669 institutions just five years prior. Most of them are open or near open access and, by legal definition, must also be low-income institutions. Congress has repeatedly over the years affirmed its fiscal support of these institutions and declared its understanding that, for the country's future economic growth and development, the nation must invest in these specific colleges and universities. The administration's action will ensure that millions of students will not access, stay enrolled, or graduate.

Of the 520 regional public universities across the United States, 179 met the eligibility requirements to apply for federal designation for at least one MSI type. AASCU stands firmly with its membership that will be negatively impacted by this action, which includes the states of Texas, Florida, Georgia, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, California, and Alabama.

AASCU calls on Congress and its bipartisan champions to continue to support all MSI programs and the millions of higher education students of all racial and ethnic groups who benefit from these critical academic and institutional supports.

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The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) is a Washington, D.C.-based higher education association that represents the sector of over 500 regional public colleges, universities, and systems whose members share a learning- and teaching-centered culture, a historic commitment to serving today's students, and a dedication to research and creativity that advances their regions' economic progress and cultural development. These are institutions delivering America's promise.