CHICO, Calif. — As an undergraduate studying psychology at California State University, Chico, Gabriel Muñoz thought that his degree might lead him to a career in human resources. Not because he was excited about that prospect — he wasn’t — but because he wasn’t sure what other options he’d have.
Then he learned about the university’s Future Scholars Program, in which undergraduate students get paid to do summer research and have access to mentors and professional development workshops. He applied and was accepted, and the experience sparked in him a love of research, he said; now he plans to enroll in a master’s program in psychology at Chico State and go on to earn his Ph.D. and become a college professor.
Muñoz had no idea that this program that changed his life was paid for by a federal grant for Hispanic-serving institutions, or HSIs. He learned that on the day he learned it had been terminated. He will be one of the last students to go through it.
University leaders say Chico State is losing more than $3 million in federal funds, as part of a larger cancellation of more than $350 million in grants to minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Now, around the country, those colleges are hustling to find ways to replace or do without the money, which covered such things as research grants, laboratory equipment, curricular materials and student support programs — budget items whose benefits extended to all students, not only Hispanic students or those from other ethnic groups.
In making the sweeping cuts last fall, the Trump administration argued that MSI programs were racially discriminatory because, to be eligible for the funding, institutions had to enroll a certain percentage of students from a certain race or ethnicity. To be considered an HSI, a college’s full-time undergraduate enrollment must be at least 25 percent Hispanic.
Experts emphasize, however, that these colleges serve many low-income and first-generation students, regardless of ethnicity.
“The thing about HSIs is that they’re so diverse,” said Marybeth Gasman, executive director of the Center for Minority Serving Institutions at Rutgers University. “They have really large numbers of Latinx students, but they also have large numbers of Black students and Asian students and low-income white students, too. I have to stress how short-sighted it is for the federal government to take this money away.”
As Congressional leaders argued over final budget legislation amid the partial government shutdown this week, it appeared that some education funding, including money for HSI grants, would be restored to the proposed budget. But the Education Department would retain the authority to decide how, or if, that funding would be distributed.
Chico State is one of 171 HSIs in California and 615 across the country, according to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Less than a third of these institutions have been receiving HSI funding, meaning roughly 200 colleges nationwide are now figuring out how to maintain defunded programs or end them in the way that is least disruptive to students.
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Created in 1992, the HSI program was designed to help more Hispanic students succeed in college and earn degrees by boosting academic offerings, program quality and institutional stability.
Data shows that these students need the boost. Across the country, Hispanic students at four-year colleges graduate at lower rates than their white counterparts — about 52 percent compared to 65 percent, according to a 2023 analysis of 2021 federal data by Excelencia in Education. And 2022 census data showed that only about 21 percent of Hispanic adults had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 42 percent of white adults.
Advocates for educational equity say HSI programs help Hispanic students achieve academic success and ultimately help enhance the future of the nation’s workforce.
“It is not about affirmative action. This is not about picking students and giving students a plus because they are Black, Latino or otherwise,” said Francisca Fajana, director of racial justice strategy at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a national nonprofit that advocates for Latino legal rights.“That’s not what this program is about. It’s really about the institutions themselves building capacity.”
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and LatinoJustice PRLDEF filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit brought by the anti-affirmative-action group Students for Fair Admissions, which argues against HSI funding. That lawsuit, and the solicitor general declaring the HSI program unconstitutional in response, is the reason the Education Department eliminated the program, according to an email from a department spokesperson. Fajana said that although she believes there is a sound case for maintaining the HSI grant program, “this is really a David versus Goliath-type battle.”
Chico State, part of the California State University System, has roughly 13,000 students, about 38 percent of whom are Hispanic according to federal data, on a small, grassy campus about an hour and a half north of Sacramento. Though the city of Chico has roughly 101,000 people, the university also serves many rural communities in northern California.
Since earning the HSI designation a decade ago, the university has received roughly $26 million in grant funding, said Teresita Curiel, the university’s director of Latinx equity and success. She said the money had allowed the university to provide valuable services to Hispanic and low-income students, but made up only a small percentage of the university’s overall budget.
Curiel said that among the programs losing funding is Bridges to Baccalaureate, the umbrella group that provides undergraduate research opportunities and transfer student mentoring for Hispanic and low-income students in the behavioral and social sciences, and one called Destino, which helps students in the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Construction Management to prepare to enter the workforce.
A program that provided research fellowships and tuition subsidies to graduate students, known as the Graduate Education Access & Opportunity Program, or Great-Op, will also end as a result of lost federal funding.
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After three remaining HSI grants end contractually in September of this year, the university will have just one active HSI grant: $163,874 from the National Science Foundation to pay for equipment upgrades in the engineering college, according to Curiel.
“If we’re going to be successful as a university, we have to intentionally think about how we’re going to support Latinx students — grant money or not,” said Leslie Cornick, Chico State’s provost, who is now working with other campus leaders to make up for lost funding.
Sabrina Marquez, who manages the Bridges to Baccalaureate and Future Scholars programs, said that in the two years that the programs’ grant has been active, more than 80 students have been paid to do research, lead summer orientation or serve as mentors to transfer students. The support is worth more than a paycheck, she said, because it often helps students better understand their own interests and opens doors to more options after they graduate.
Many students who enter the Future Scholars Program don’t really know what it means to do research, Marquez said.
Ysabella Marin, a senior psychology major who plans to graduate early, said she was one of those students. It wasn’t until she was paired with Gabriel Muñoz through the mentoring program that she learned it was even possible for undergraduates to do research. Her work in the Future Scholars Program focused on the impact of social media on men’s body image.
“To me, research was always something that was kind of scary, to be honest,” Marin said. But she felt empowered by her experience — more confident, and more comfortable talking to her professors, she said. And it’s helped her figure out that she wants to enroll in a master’s program to study developmental psychology.
It’s difficult to quantify the program’s success since it’s only been active for two years, said Ryan Patten, interim dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. Anecdotally, though, he and Marquez have noticed that it’s helped many students realize their academic interests and develop a sense of belonging on campus.
Patten said that some aspects of the program will continue in the spring and summer with leftover money, “and then it ends.”
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At other colleges, leaders have been pinching pennies in order to keep similar programs running.
At Southwestern College in the San Diego area, college president Mark Sanchez said the school’s leaders are not willing to sacrifice a program that helps first-year students adjust to life on campus. The college serves a binational community of students living in the United States and Mexico; many are the first in their family to go to college. The first-year experience program connects students with mentors for cultural activities and advisers who hook them up with tutoring as needed. Sanchez said the program has been extended to students in their second year, too. Instead of being funded with HSI grant money, Sanchez said, the programs will now be paid for out of the college’s general fund.
California State University, Channel Islands has received roughly $40 million in HSI grant funding since earning the label a decade ago, said Jessica Lavariega Monforti, the university’s provost. Most of the money has gone toward programs to support the academic success of Hispanic and low-income students, she said.
Among the programs being discontinued is one called Soar at CI, which focuses on helping more Latino students to and through college by using culturally responsive outreach to students and enhancing transfer pipelines from nearby community colleges, she said. More experienced students offered career mentoring to younger students, hosted a podcast and invited alumni to come back to campus to host workshops on career preparedness. Lavariega Monforti said that leaders will try to incorporate aspects of this program into other areas of campus life, but that the university can’t afford to keep it going long-term without the HSI funding.
Before beginning his first semester at Chico State, Matthew Hernandez, now a senior computer science major, enrolled in both a computer science boot camp (funded through Destino), and a calculus boot camp, both designed to prepare students to thrive in their college classes. Hernandez said that success in the calculus boot camp is measured by a placement test at the beginning and the end, and he went from scoring 44/100 before the boot camp to a near-perfect score by the end.
Lupe Jimenez, who oversees the Destino program, said the computer science boot camp is unlikely to continue because of the funding cuts.
Data from the university shows that students involved in STEM support programs such as Destino were more likely to stay enrolled after their first year (92 percent compared to 86 percent of their peers in similar majors) and more likely to graduate (63 percent graduate within six years, compared to 58 percent of their peers).
Natalie Gonzalez, a senior mechatronic engineering major who attended both boot camps with Hernandez, said she spent most of her free time on campus in the Destino student center — studying, getting extra help from the advisers, even dropping by between classes to get a snack. She’s made most of her friends at Chico State through Destino programs, she said, and the student center often feels like a social hub. The center won’t close because it’s home to other STEM support resources, Jimenez said.
Karen Contreras, who graduated with a degree in biochemistry in December, said she initially had trouble finding her place in STEM as a first-generation college student before she learned about the Chico STEM Connections Collaborative, a program similar to Destino that is funded by an HSI grant that cannot be canceled without an act of Congress. Through that group, she got paid to do research on idiopathic scoliosis in Japanese rice fish. In the fish lab, Contreras found mentors and friends and a purpose within her major.
Chico student Isaac Arreola said that when he first started as a student assistant in the office of graduate studies, he didn’t even know what graduate school was. Now, four years later, he’s still working there and is a graduate student himself — thanks to tuition assistance from Great-Op. With that funding gone, he’s been scrambling to find scholarships he can apply for and facing the disappointing reality that he may have to take out loans in order to stay enrolled.
Muñoz, too, still has graduate school aspirations, despite limited funding opportunities. With Great-Op off the table, he said he plans to pay what he can out of pocket and apply for student loans to cover the rest.
Contact staff writer Olivia Sanchez at 212-678-8402 or osanchez@hechingerreport.org.
This story about Hispanic-serving institutions was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our higher education newsletter. Listen to our higher education podcast.
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