Issue Briefs
Institutional Aid (Title III and Title V Institutions)
Authorized under Titles III and V of the Higher Education Act, the Strengthening Institutions programs provide competitive grants to institutions with specific characteristics. Generally, institutions receiving grants under these programs have lower educational and general expenditures and serve higher percentages of low-income students than their peer institutions. Some also enroll a certain percentage of a particular minority demographic.
About
The Title III-Part A Strengthening Institutions Program serves low-resourced institutions with a high percentage of low-income students. This part of the HEA also provides for grants to institutions with specific minority enrollment populations, which include Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions; Predominantly Black Institutions; Native American-Serving, Nontribal Institutions; Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions. These are referred to as “Minority-Serving Institutions.”
The Title III-Part B Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Programs serve eligible institutions created before 1964 and federally recognized by 1986.
The Title V Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) serve institutions with FTE enrollment of at least 25 percent Hispanic students.
Eligible institutions are able to use the federal funding they receive to provide access and a quality education to low-income and minority students through a number of uses of funds such as: (1) the purchase, rental, or lease of scientific or laboratory equipment for educational purposes; (2) construction, maintenance, renovation, and improvement in classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and other instructional facilities; and (3) the development and improvement of academic programs.
NAICU advocates for increased funding of the Titles III and V programs in annual appropriations and monitors legislative and administrative action to ensure private nonprofit colleges remain equitably eligible for these investments.
Recent Developments
In the final weeks of FY 2025, the Trump Administration provided a one-time increase in funding for HBCUs and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities by redirecting funding away from HSIs, other minority-serving institutions, International Education, and Teacher Quality Partnership Grants. This redistribution of funds upended multi-year grants to institutions for programs that ultimately help students pursue degrees. The administration’s justification for this unprecedented reallocation of funds was that the programs that were cut do not address the president’s priorities.
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If your MSI program funding was cut in the FY 2025 reallocation, contact your congressional delegation to communicate the impact this loss of funds had on your campus and for your students. Continue to advocate for the program and its funding.
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Department of Education Eligibility Matrices for Titles III and V Programs
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Stephanie Giesecke: Stephanie@NAICU.edu
In the News
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NAICU Washington Update (9/19/25)Funding for International Education Terminated
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NAICU Washington Update (9/19/25)HBCUs and TCCUs Beneficiaries of Funding Reallocation
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NAICU Washington Update (9/12/25)Funding for Minority Serving Institutions Terminated