The Department of Education announced on Sept. 10 that it will end grant programs to Minority-Serving Institutions, such as Hispanic Serving Institutions like Texas State.
Ending grant programs has resulted in the loss of $2.1 million in research funding to Texas State, with millions more in funding at risk, according to Vice President for Research, Shreekanth Mandayam.
“We had 26 awards totaling $11 million. Out of that, only one award has been canceled, and we have lost $2.1 million,” Mandayam said. “So in context, it’s out of a portfolio of $250 million and $180 million [in] annual [research] expenditures.”
According to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, HSIs are defined as not-for-profit colleges and universities in which at least 25% of full-time equivalent undergraduate students are Hispanic. The Department of Education has removed its webpage defining HSIs.
According to the Department of Education’s press release, the decision comes after the Solicitor General determined the grants violated the 5th Amendment in July. The press release further states that the Trump Administration considers the programs racially discriminatory.
“To further our commitment to ending discrimination in all forms across federally supported programs, the Department will no longer award Minority-Serving Institution grants that discriminate by restricting eligibility to institutions that meet government-mandated racial quotas,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wrote in the press release.
The press release stated the $350 million, of federal dollars, that was planned to fund minority grant programs will instead go to other programs that “advance administration priorities.” According to Texas State’s website, the university has received 44 grants and financial awards totaling over $58.7 million since becoming an HSI.
“The HSI designation enables us to compete for federal funding that increases our capacity to strengthen programs, enhance research infrastructure and capacity, and support our students,” the university wrote on its website.
Mandayam said the one grant that has been canceled at this time funded “Proyecto Excelencia.” Proyecto Excelencia was a program seeking to improve student retention and graduation rates, and increase transfers from HSI colleges to Texas State, among other goals.
While the university has only lost a single grant at this time, Mandayam said there are eight more grants he is concerned may be canceled.
“We’ve been looking at these grants to see if there’s a risk of any of them being terminated, and it’s possible. Out of the [25], eight of them have what is called a federal assistance listing that required minority beneficiaries,” Mandayam said. “I don’t want to cause alarm to faculty and students, but it is possible that some of those eight out of those 25 left may be at risk.”
Mandayam created a new program, called Pivot, to address changes in grant requirements. He said the program uses money from the Texas University Fund endowment to temporarily fund projects while they seek new long-term funding. The endowment gives Texas State an additional $60-70 million a year in research funding.
“Again, it has to satisfy Texas law and new federal law so we can pivot some of these programs,” Mandayam said. “So that is what we are trying to do to help, to minimize impact, but definitely the institution cannot permanently support federally awarded research grants.”
Changes in federal funding priority aren’t a new thing, Mandayam said. What he said is new is the scale and pace of changes in priority.
“Keeping up is hard, but we’re doing it and Texas State is doing very well,” Mandayam said. “Our research went from $70 million before [President Kelly Damphousse] and I came here, now we are at $180 million in annual research.”
This is a developing story. The University Star will update as information becomes available.
