Quick Take
Cabrillo College leaders say they’re “deeply upset” after the Trump administration announced it would terminate $350 million in federal grants for minority-serving institutions — a move that could cost Cabrillo $3 million and affect two key student support programs. Despite the blow, administrators say they’re committed to maintaining services for underrepresented students and are exploring legal options to challenge the decision.
Cabrillo College leaders say they could lose about $3 million for two of the school’s federally funded programs after the Trump administration announced it was cancelling $350 million in grant funding for minority-serving programs at colleges and universities across the country.
The college’s two affected programs, Camino al Exito (Path to Success) and Abriendo el Camino (Opening the Pathway), improve retention for first-year Cabrillo students and provide high school students opportunities to take Cabrillo courses to create a seamless transition to college.
The funds go to staff who support those programs and also to students who serve as mentors to fellow students.
Cabrillo College President Matt Wetstein said he disagrees with what he called the administration’s “illegitimate” argument and is disappointed by the federal government’s decision as the cuts are two programs that serve all Cabrillo students.
“I think you can do equity-advancing programs like this, and still have constitutional principles in play, like equality,” he said. “It’s not like we’re treating students unequally in admissions or delivery of services. These are open to students who are underrepresented, poor, come from disadvantaged backgrounds and designed to help lift those students up and address past inequities in access and completion.”
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement Wednesday that the federal education department will no longer fund the programs because they “discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas.”
McMahon said the department will work with Congress to repurpose the funds to instead support programs for “underprepared or under-resourced students without relying on race quotas.”
The cancellation of funds affects programs at colleges that enroll a high percentage of Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian, Asian American and Hispanic students, along with programs that support minority students in science and engineering programs, among several others.
As a college with a student population that is at least 25% Latino, Cabrillo applied for, and received, a designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in 2006. With that designation, the college can receive federal funding for programs aimed at Hispanic students, though the programs are available to all Cabrillo students from every background. Wetstein said the college has received about $29 million to date in total federal grants related to its HSI designation. Cabrillo College’s student population is more than 50% Hispanic.
UC Santa Cruz is also a Hispanic Serving Institution and received that designation in 2014. UCSC is 27.5% Chicanx/Latinx.
UC Santa Cruz’s HSI website lists the school as “one of the nation’s leading Hispanic-Serving Research Institutions,” indicating it has received nine federal grants and serves more than 16,000 students. UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason referred all questions about the school’s HSI grants to the University of California Office of the President, which didn’t immediately respond.
Wetstein said Cabrillo’s programs are important because they’re geared toward students from communities that have been underrepresented and faced barriers to accessing higher education for decades, and these students are often the first in their families to go to college. Without family members who have gone to college and who can help them adjust, students who are first to make that leap are less prepared.
“These programs are really well-designed to provide navigational support and systems of support and peer networking and working with counselors and in student support specialists to help them navigate college and succeed,” Wetstein said.
Cabrillo’s vice president of student services, Blanca Baltazar-Sabbah, said the college has been preparing in case the administration announced these cuts. She said school administrators don’t foresee any impacts to staffing or programming this year as they expect to be able to cover costs with unspent funds.
“We’re completely committed to continuing to provide these services and figuring out ways to do that,” she told Lookout.
The termination of the funding comes months after a lawsuit was filed by the state of Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions in June against the federal government’s grants for Hispanic Serving Institutions. In July, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the Justice Department declined to defend the program, arguing it “violates the equal-protection component of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.”
The Department of Education announcement Wednesday cited Sauer’s reasoning: “The Department agrees that the racial quotas in the HSI programs are unconstitutional.”
Wetstein said Cabrillo reached out to its legal counsel to discuss joining legal challenges against the Trump administration’s move.
“It’s not final,” he said. “It’s going to be the subject of intense litigation.”
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