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Washington, D.C. — OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocate strongly condemns the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to end grant funding for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), including Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs).
According to the Department’s announcement, approximately $350 million in discretionary funds slated for fiscal year 2025 will no longer support programs such as strengthening AANAPISIs, Black Institutions, Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, and Hispanic-Serving Institutions. These programs have historically provided competitively awarded grants that enhance academic programming and student support services—resources that are particularly critical for AANAPISIs, which serve campuses with at least 10 percent Asian American and Pacific Islander enrollment. Instead, the Department plans to reprogram these funds into programs “that do not include discriminatory racial and ethnic quotas,” citing constitutional concerns with the original eligibility criteria.
“Programs like AANAPISI, established by Congress in 2007 under the Higher Education Act,” said Thu Nguyen, Executive Director of OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates, “were specifically designed to close educational gaps by investing in schools that serve large numbers of AAPI students with financial need. Cutting this funding is a step backward for educational equity, hurting students from immigrant, low-income, and communities of color the most.”
OCA calls on Congress to intervene to restore funding for MSIs, including AANAPISIs. This policy shift strips vital resources from communities that have long been underserved and undermines decades of progress toward equity in higher education.
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