SJSU receives $1.875 million CSU grant to support Asian American and Pacific Islander students

At San José State University, a growing number of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students are finding community, mentorship and a sense of belonging on campus.

That growth is being fueled by a recent $1.875 million grant from the California State University Chancellor's Office - the largest awarded across the CSU system - to expand and strengthen support for AANHPI students.

"This grant is really opening the door for our students to make connections, build community and practice a sense of empowerment," says Trung Nguyen, assistant professor of Asian American Studies .

In 2022, new legislation established the California State University Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Student Achievement Program , also known as CSU ASAP. The program provides $8 million in annual funding to CSU campuses to support and enhance the experiences of AANHPI students in higher education. Another $8 million is allocated to the California Community Colleges system.

Nguyen collaborated with Jinni Pradhan, director of the Center for Asian Pacific Islander Student Empowerment (CAPISE ), and Yvonne Kwan, associate professor of Asian American Studies, to plan and apply for the grant when it first became available in 2024, and again in 2025.

Kwan said that during the first round, the team decided not to ask for too much funding.

"Given issues with capacity, we didn't want to bite off more than we could chew," she says. "We wanted to start out by making sure we could do all the things we proposed to do."

In 2024, they received $160,000, which allowed them to move forward on various initiatives.

When the next funding cycle came around, they were ready to apply for the maximum amount.

In August of 2025, the team learned it had been awarded a second grant of $1.875 million - the highest allocation among CSU campuses. Since the grant is based on a five-year allocation, SJSU will be receiving $375,000 annually until 2030.

"Receiving the largest allocation in the CSU system is a powerful validation of San José State's unwavering commitment to our AANHPI community. This grant isn't just a financial investment; it is a catalyst that allows us to deepen our roots as an institution where equity isn't just a goal, but a lived reality," says Associate Vice President for Student Equity and Belonging Rachel Camacho. "By investing in these tailored support systems, we are ensuring that every student feels a profound sense of belonging and has a clear, supported pathway to graduation and beyond."

Kwan, Nguyen and Pradhan have been approaching the vision for the funding with a focus on long-term sustainability and are now continuing to implement initiatives across the San José State campus, where 45% of the student population identifies as Asian.

"We've really been working to set a foundation of imagining what it means for us to have an ecosystem of support for Asian American and Pacific Islander students on this campus," Pradhan says.

A key component of that vision is collaboration between the Division of Student Affairs and the Division of Academic Affairs.

"This work really has to involve both divisions," Pradhan says. "Both need to speak to one another and truly communicate. This grant will continue to facilitate those conversations so we can think about how to holistically support students."

Where the funding will go

One initiative supported by the funding is an internship program in Asian American Studies, overseen by Kwan. The program offers paid, hands-on experience with local AAPI organizations and businesses.

"Last year, we had student interns work at the Japanese American Museum of San José and Empire Seven Studios," Kwan says. "Student interns at Empire Seven prepped walls for the SJ Walls Festival, worked closely with artists and learned the business of art. And the student intern at the museum got a chance to work on the SJ Japantown Lineage Tour, which contributed to the community's application for the California Cultural District designation. "

The grant also supports the Asian American Studies Street Team , a student-led outreach group that builds community and advocates for students in the program.

This semester, three paid student members have been running study halls, providing soft skills advising and conducting surveys to better understand the needs of students.

Nguyen, who oversees the AAS Street Team, is also serving as faculty associate for CAPISE, a role that has been sustained by the CSU grant over these last couple of years. Along with holding weekly office hours at CAPISE, he coordinates programming between CAPISE and Academic Affairs, and is also working on a research project based around constructing the history of Asian American activism at SJSU.

"It's what we call wraparound services," Kwan says. "Students who are accessing CAPISE also get the opportunity to access Asian American Studies."

Although Asian American Studies has existed at SJSU since 1970, it wasn't until 2024 that it became a formal major. Enrollment has grown rapidly.

"This year, we started at 70 students and now we're up to 110," Nguyen said. "This is the largest number of majors and minors we've ever had."

The Division of Student Affairs is also considering hiring an outreach and retention specialist as part of the grant's focus on student retention.

Programs like CAPISE's Asian Pacific Islander Empower Mentorship program , which provides peer mentoring to first-year students, play a key role in that effort.

When the program launched in 2023, it relied on limited and inconsistent funding.

"Based on the amount of money we were able to get, we determined how many students we could hire," Pradhan said.

With CSU funding now in place, she said the program has greater stability and room to grow.

Some grant funding is dedicated to professional development, including sending staff and faculty to conferences like the Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE) conference later this month.

"This work has been driven by dedicated staff and faculty who have been trying to do these programs for decades without stable funding," Nguyen says. "This grant allows us to scale up and accelerate that work. It gives students opportunities to build community, develop leadership and shape their own futures."