Every week seems to bring new disruptions to higher education; in just the past few days we’ve seen a government shutdown and a new ‘compact’ that would give universities preferential treatment for aligning with the president’s ideological goals. With so much happening, we are working to keep our eyes on key changes that might most impact students in NYC.

Last month, the Trump administration made one of these changes when it declared that it was ending all grants designated for “Minority Serving Institutions” (MSIs). The decision is part of the administration’s effort to end all programs that it deems support “diversity” “equity” and “inclusion,” and was made under the pretext that MSIs are defined by racial quotas.

MSIs and the federal grants to support them were defined decades ago within Title III and Title V of the Higher Education Act. While the definitions do include requirements for percentages of students from different backgrounds (e.g. Hispanic Serving Institutions must have 25% of students identify as hispanic, Predominantly Black institutions must have 40% of students identify as black), the requirements are much broader: institutions must serve certain percentages of low-income students and spend less per student than peer institutions. In short, MSIs grants go to institutions that are already under-resourced and serve students with the greatest need. Within New York, for example, 18 of CUNY’s 26 colleges (every undergraduate focused campus) fit at least one MSI designation. MSIs also feature at the top of most economic mobility ratings and rankings of college return on investment (ROI).

Moreover, the MSI grants that were cut by the administration are designed to improve educational and career outcomes for ALL students on campus. They are 3-5 year grants that allow institutions to start new student support programs; these innovation grants are the “sort of things that have long-term impacts with a little bit of money,” according to Dr. Gina Ann Garcia, as noted in Inside Higher Ed. Ending these grants will have an immediate detrimental impact. At one CUNY campus that has had grants canceled, for example, they are losing funding for peer mentoring programs, undergraduate research experiences, supporting student mental health, and the development of career connected curricula. These cuts inevitably will have impacts on student experiences, and they create a huge institutional burden as administrators are forced to rework programs and budgets a month into the semester. As one administrator told us, “the chaos is a big challenge.”

One of the disturbing elements of this decision is that the administration has tried to pit institutions against each other, by giving the MSI funding to HBCUs and Tribal Colleges & Universities (which are defined by their historical missions, not who enrolls). While these institutions are historically underfunded and deserve greater support, the real intention of this move seems to be to earn political points and create splits among advocacy groups.

MSIs are key employers and engines of mobility in cities and towns across the country. And, like other programs that support a broad range of students in need of opportunity – e.g. TRIO, Americorps, and Pell grants – they continue to have bipartisan support. In a time of increasing polarization, we hope to see these institutions defended, as they benefit opportunity for all.