A dozen of San Antonio’s colleges and universities are bracing for the loss of thousands of dollars in federal grants after the U.S. Department of Education halted the disbursement of about $350 million intended for Hispanic Serving Institutions.
The Department of Education announced it would eliminate some current and new grants issued to Hispanic-serving designated colleges citing that they “discriminate by conferring government benefits exclusively to institutions that meet racial or ethnic quotas,” stated the announcement issued on Sept. 10 by the department.
The Hispanic Serving Institution federal designation is awarded to degree-granting colleges with at least 25% of Hispanic or Latino students enrolled.
Local college officials say the widespread misconception is that these dollars only benefit Hispanic or Latino students, while in reality the programs created using these funds are open to all students.
“They really just recognize the distinction and the type of students we typically serve, but they are not meant to be grants or programs that only serve a specific population,” said Priscilla Camacho, chief legislative, industry and external relations officer at Alamo Colleges District.
There are 112 not-for-profit Hispanic Serving Institutions across Texas. In San Antonio there are 12 public and private colleges designated as Hispanic Serving Institutions, including Texas A&M University-San Antonio, all five colleges under Alamo Colleges District, Our Lady of the Lake University, St. Mary’s University, and the now-merged University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Since 2018, there were at least 21 grants issued by the Department of Education to these San Antonio institutions totaling more than $57 million.
The programs created using these funds focus on increasing enrollment, retention and completion of all students, as well as improving outcomes across STEM fields and graduate programs.
It is unclear the total number of grants impacted by this decision across San Antonio. Most local officials state they were working to figure out the full scope of the cuts.
Alamo Colleges District’s Palo Alto College and San Antonio College have already received notices of cancellation for grants that were awarded under the Hispanic Serving Institutions. The two programs, Project Avance at PAC and Project Apoyo at SAC, lost three and two years worth of grant funding, respectively, which equals to about $1.8 million in federal funding.
Project Avance sought to increase overall student enrollment, retention and outcomes by creating opportunities for them to learn what career pathways are available in the region through summer bridge programs, career fairs, industry tours and more.
Project Apoyo also sought to improve the success of all first-time college students and first-generation students by expanding access to the college’s Avance Program, which offers extra support through one-on-one advising, specialty instructors and networking opportunities.
Like SAC and PAC, at least seven other local institutions are listed as having similar ongoing grants. In 2023, Texas A&M University was awarded a 5-year, $3 million federal grant for a program called Caminos Hacia el Éxito aimed at serving Hispanic and low-income students with a goal to “help address economic challenges and improve access to technology for its student population,” university officials wrote in an announcement back then. It is unclear if this program will continue.
At Alamo Colleges these HSI grant-funded programs are not ending, Camacho said, as officials are currently figuring out what other resources they can allocate to the programs to keep them going. They expect to lose staff that were fully funded by the federal grants, but as of now there are less than 10 positions at risk.
“We’re still working through conversations on continuing the work through other funding means,” Camacho said. “We’re still not sure where that funding will come from, but we’re feeling really good that we can continue some of that work.”
Not every program designated under the Title V Program statute, which sought to support the student attainment and opportunities at institutions serving a large number of Hispanic students, would be ending under this latest decision.
According to the Department of Education’s news release, some funds would still be available to developing Hispanic Serving colleges, including those meant to support graduate programs. The $350 million would also be reallocated to some of these programs and other Minority Serving Institutions, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
St. Philip’s College, in San Antonio’s East Side, holds both designations. Camacho said the college has already received notice that they will receive additional funding to what had already been designated for fiscal year 2025, but it’s still unclear how much.
The college is not losing any federal grants as a Hispanic Serving college because they could not compete for HSI grants if they received funds under the HBCU designation, Camacho said.
David Mendez, interim chief executive officer at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, known as HACU, called for the Department of Education to reconsider this decision, which he said will impact 615 HSIs across the country and more than 5.6 million college students.
“These funds are a vital investment in the institutions that train the future workforce of our country,” Mendez said. “The efficacy of the education and success of these students depend on this funding to ensure our nation’s future prosperity.
The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
