Funding for Minority Serving Institutions Terminated

The Department of Education announced this week that it will cease funding for the Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) grant programs. As a result, current year (FY 2025) program funding is on hold pending administration review. The $350 million on hold for MSI FY 2025 awards or continuation grants will not be awarded and instead will be redistributed to programs that meet the administration’s priorities.

This decision follows the recent lawsuit against the Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) program and the U.S. Solicitor General’s determination that such programs violate the Constitution. Although institutions that qualify as MSIs serve a broad range of students, the Department considers these programs to be racially discriminatory because the definitions for program eligibility are based on the percentage of minority student enrollment. The MSI programs include:

• Hispanic Serving Institutions
• Predominantly Black Institutions (not to be confused with Historically Black Colleges and Universities)
• Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions
• Asian American- and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions
• Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions
• Minority Science and Engineering Improvement

Funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which are designated based on historic status and do not have the same quotas for minority-student enrollment, is not affected.

For more information, please contact:
Stephanie Giesecke