Sorah Emory, Campus Carrier staff writer
The Trump Administration is withdrawing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding primarily from Hispanic-Serving Institutions, as they plan to redirect said funds towards Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other minority focused colleges.
The Department of Education for the Trump administration is stating that the institutions they pulled funding from are discriminatory by tying federal funding to race quotas according to AP News. This change in funding is made possible via a stopgap funding bill passed earlier this year by Congress, which gave the executive branch more power in government spending decisions.
Though the Trump administration’s reasoning for withdrawing these funds includes statements from members of their Department of Education regarding fairness and equality, there is additionally a logical aspect to their decision.
“It’s more the argument [of] where the money is coming from.” Eric Sands, associate professor of political science and international affairs, said.
Statements from other Trump administration Department of Education members say that the decision advances administration policies and is reallocating funds to institutions that meet the necessary quotas but are not receiving the proper amount of federal funding.
“The Supreme Court has made it clear that the abuse of quotas is unconstitutional” Sands said.
In addition to the funding redirection to HBCU and tribal colleges, the federal government has put more of its money into charter schools and historic grants and directed more funding away from gifted/advanced school programs, teacher training and more. The Department of Education has shifted the focus of these funds once dedicated to specialized education and minority programs to align with the priorities of the Trump administration.
This funding shift will impact Hispanic-Serving Institutions across the nation, though the impact will likely be in western states, such as California, where the largest Latino population in the U.S resides. The highest concentration of HSIs is located not just in California, but in Texas and Puerto Rico as well. The east and south are also impacted, with large concentrations of HSIs in Illinois, New York and Florida.
Though this action will have a widespread impact, it will not impact the students here at Berry College.
“We are not a Hispanic Serving Institution or Historically Black College; we are completely out of that classification, [so] we have never had [federal] funding of any kind for that reason. It’s not affecting us at all.” Noemi Sarrion, the director of financial aid, said. “There may be historically black schools in Atlanta that may be affected.”
According to Sam Call, assistant professor of political science, this funding withdrawal was so swift, it will leave HSIs out on a limb. This redirection, and the volume of funding being redirected will have a serious impact on HSIs, and it will be difficult for them to find alternative funding to fall back on in such a short amount of time.
“The [HSI/affected] schools that depend on the federal funding [may] need to cut programs,” Call said. “It depends on what institutions use their funding for, [but the funding] could impact teaching, we know that a lot of teachers and professors are leaving institutions specifically that are impacted by these types of cuts.”
Call also mentioned a potential shift to private education for impacted students, potentially leaving them in debt due to their now restricted accessible education access.
“The public schools [impacted] don’t do funding/fundraising the same way that private education does, so it will take them a long time to try to catch back up,” Call said.
Furthermore, taking away HSIs and funding from other educational institutions, especially ones that are racially focused, could mean a shift in the political atmosphere. Limiting education for Hispanic and other minority groups could mean those who voted for the Republican administration shift away from that towards a party that opposes reducing funding for minority institutions
The funding cuts for HSIs and other educational institutions bring into focus the question of how the government is allocating resources, and how it affects U.S. residents. The impact on the institutions losing funding is a notable problem, however HBCUs will benefit largely from the funding they will now receive. The cuts do not directly affect Berry students, though the impact will be noticeable across the country.
“We know that a lot of teachers and professors are leaving institutions specifically that are impacted by these cuts,” Call said. “One of the long term impacts will be bigger classroom sizes with fewer teachers able to teach those subjects.”