Pursuing a Ph.D. is a demanding, tiring, and long mission, but one that many who undertake it welcome. In most cases, Ph.D. students are passionate about their line of work and willingly make sacrifices to achieve that level of scholarship. Finding time to work outside their research programs can be difficult, if not impossible, so doctoral students often count on stipends and a combination of funding programs to help make the journey possible.

Jesus Alexander Lopez, a current Ph.D. student researching impulsivity behavior, knows this well. Until this year, Lopez was thankful for a combination of programs from his university that allowed him to focus fully on his project and studies. But in September, the funding Lopez counted on was slashed by the U.S. Department of Education. 

The department announced it was canceling $350 million in federal grants it provided to minority-serving institutions (M.S.I.s), including Hispanic-serving institutions (H.S.I.s), claiming the funding was unconstitutional. The D.O.E. created the H.S.I. program in 1992 as a part of its grants programs to M.S.I.s, which also include historically Black colleges and universities (H.B.C.U.s) and Tribal colleges and universities (T.C.U.s). About 70 percent of M.S.I.s qualify as an H.S.I. Criteria dictate that 25 percent of the full-time student body identify as Latino, and 50 percent or more of the school’s students must receive federal need-based aid. Additionally, the core expenses per full-time employee must be lower than the average institutional group. 

Advocates for H.S.I.’s often center their argument around a different point: the contributions that H.S.I. graduates make to the economy. H.S.I.s enroll over 5.6 million students nationwide, including two-thirds of all Latino undergraduates in the country.  Anne Marie Nunez is the executive director of the Diana Natalicio Institute for Hispanic Student Success at the University of Texas at El Paso. “H.S.I. students are a workforce lynchpin and contribute to global economic leaderships,” she said. “Students who attend them operate at only 68 cents of a dollar, compared to non-H.S.I. schools, so they are more efficient. Seventy-seven percent of H.S.I. graduates recoup the tuition cost within five years, and their education is likely to provide them with three times the economic mobility than other students.”

Additionally, Nunez says H.S.I.s do not specifically serve Hispanic students or give them preference, nor do they limit students from other demographic groups. According to the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the cut funding is a loss for every student at these schools, not just Hispanic-identifying students. H.S.I. funding is race-conscious but not race-exclusive. The funding can be used toward new buildings, resources, and services, for instance, that help every student on campus. A 2022 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office broke down the need for such funding. It found that many of these schools had maintenance backlogs, the need for modernization, and technology gaps that peer universities did not. In total, about 602 public and private institutions meet the qualifications for H.S.I. designation. 

About five percent of H.S.I.s are considered R1 institutions, a designation for colleges and universities that produce the most academic research and confer the most doctoral degrees — a selective set of schools. Nunez sees an enterprising student body at H.S.I.s, one that has sparked innovation and delivered a strong return on investment for the nation. “These cuts harm students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to higher education,” she said. 

The Fallout

Graduate students also benefit from H.S.I. grants. Lopez, who attends one of the nation’s top H.S.I.s, said that when the D.O.E. “reprogrammed” the money that had been helping him get through school, his experience changed dramatically.  

“In my first year, I joined my university’s research initiative for scientific advancements,” Lopez explained. “This allowed me to pay for tuition, receive a stipend, and receive a research assistant position. It was nice not to have to work outside the university and simply focus on my research.”

As Lopez advanced in his studies and began working collaboratively with a second university, his expenses began to rise. He applied for a second funding program, which allowed him to attend workshops on research ethics and personal development, as well as join a cohort group of under-represented students. “Life was getting more expensive, but I was able to spend a lot of time in the lab, attend conferences, and mentor undergrads,” Lopez said. “Many of them benefited from H.S.I. funding, as well.” 

When the federal government pulled H.S.I. grants, both the programs that were helping him afford his Ph.D. journey lost their funding. Everything changed for Lopez and his students. “Many of my students had to take out student loans or quit school altogether,” he said. “They already come from poor socioeconomic backgrounds, and when they must work full-time jobs, it becomes a stressor. You must have an immense amount of drive to manage all that.” 

For his part, Lopez also had to pivot. While he’s continuing his research, he’s now also fighting for competitive teaching assistant positions to support himself. In addition, Lopez has been picking up late-night bartending shifts to keep afloat. “When people ask me what I miss in life while working toward a Ph.D., I always say sleep,” he said. “Because it’s a hard road. But now I’m sometimes getting home from work in the middle of the night, then getting up to go to school tired. It’s a stressor I didn’t count on.” 

Manuel Del Real, the executive director of the H.S.I. Initiatives and Inclusion Program at Metropolitan State University of Denver, is also facing the reality that his school must figure out new revenue streams for its students. “We had an expectation that it might come to this, so we started preparing for that outcome,” he said. 

Since achieving H.S.I designation in 2019, M.S.U. Denver has received nearly $20 million in grants and funding from the federal government. With a 37 percent Hispanic-identifying population and 60 percent first-generation student body, the cuts to H.S.I. grants are impactful. 

“We have used the funding in a variety of ways,” Del Real said, “including scholars’ programs in science, nutrition, cybersecurity, and more.” 

The money has also allowed M.S.U. Denver students to pursue research in a variety of academic areas, including STEM, and helped faculty and staff with certificate programs to enhance their teaching. Additionally, M.S.U. Denver created a consortium of current and emerging H.S.I.s to provide collaboration between the schools to build organizational capacity to serve the state’s Latino students. M.S.U. Denver’s efforts earned it several awards, including the Seal of Excelencia and a Fulbright H.S.I. Leader designation from the State Department. 

Now, however, Del Real is doing his best to find new sources of funding for the school. “We’re working closely with our staff and faculty to support them with grant writing,” he said. “It’s about reimagining and pivoting.”

M.S.U. Denver is also conferring with its H.S.I. consortium to support collaborative efforts, look for more state grants, and tap into foundations that are willing to fill in funding gaps. Del Real said the school is mining data to support any applications for new funding. “That works well for us, allowing us to tell our story,“ he said. “We are sticking to our mission of serving our students, and we continue to communicate that to them.”

The Lawsuits

No one can say for sure the motivation behind the D.O.E.’s funding cuts, but it likely began with a federal lawsuit filed last summer by the state of Tennessee and the Students for Fair Admissions (S.F.F.A.) group — the same group that successfully sued Harvard over race-conscious admissions, taking the case to the Supreme Court in 2023, where it won. In the current suit, the S.F.F.A. asserts that all colleges serve Hispanic students and that eligibility requirements for H.S.I. grants are discriminatory to all students. Tennessee is one of several states that have no designated H.S.I.s, although all schools in the state serve some population of Hispanic students. The groups are asking that the court strike down the program’s ethnicity-based requirements.

Indeed, the H.S.I.’s are up against some formidable opponents with a very different point of view. Dan Morenoff is the executive director of the American Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit law firm that is representing the eastern district of Tennesee in the lawsuit. “This is an effort to ensure Americans aren’t treated differently because of their race,” he said. “The litigation asks the court to declare unconstitutional the discriminatory qualifications for the funds and open the doors for other schools to compete.”

In the meantime, Senator Jim Banks, Republican of Indianna, has introduced a bill that would allocate the former H.S.I. funds to any lower-income student. Morenoff supports this approach. “The federal government has many grant opportunities,” he said. “Why are some schools where students aren’t well off barred from competing for these streams of money?”

H.S.I. advocates push back on that argument, using data to support their case. While H.S.I.s represent 15 percent of all nonprofit colleges and universities, they enroll most Hispanic college students. Some H.S.I.s meet the minimum designation of 25 percent Hispanic students, others range from 60 to 100 percent. These same schools also serve larger proportions of Black and Native students than H.B.C.U.s and T.C.U.s combined. Research shows that there are an additional 300-plus institutions that rank as “emerging H.S.I.s,” indicated by growing Hispanic populations in several states. As Nunez and others point out, supporting this sector of education is critical to the nation’s educational and workforce goals. 

H.S.I.s are not eligible for Title III and Title V funding through the D.O.E. or other federal agencies, so that is not an optional avenue. Data supports the fact that H.S.I.s can use the extra support. A 2023 analysis demonstrated that Hispanic students graduate at lower rates than their white peers. 

In response to the lawsuit, LatinoJustice PRLDEF and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities have filed a motion to intervene. If the court grants the intervention, the groups intend to argue that the H.S.I. program is lawful, essential, and equitable.

Moving Forward

While much has changed for the schools, students, and faculty at H.S.I.s, they recognize that for now, they must operate without the funding. In some cases, this has resulted in cutting support programs for first-generation students or “future scholars” programming that introduces students to career paths they might not otherwise learn about. 

 Some states with a high number of H.S.I.s are investigating ways to provide funding where the federal grants left a hole. California’s legislature, for instance, which is home to 167 H.S.I.s — the largest concentration of any state — has introduced a bill that would create a carve-out to state law that would allow community colleges to backfill funding. 

For Lopez, the cuts mean he’s had to fight to remain in his Ph.D. track, even when his school encouraged him to “master out” instead because the master’s program had more funding available. His work environment also looks different today. “I’ve had to use my own money to buy supplies for the lab,” he said. “I’m tired and stressed and so are my students. It slows down our motivation and our research as a consequence.” 

Despite all that, Lopez remains committed to his research and considers himself lucky to have been so far along with it when the funding cut hit. “I’m trying to frame things optimistically,” he said. “They can cut funding based on culture, language, gender, but it only makes the community stronger.”

Like Del Real, Lopez said the H.S.I. community will continue to seek funding from other sources, especially for younger undergraduate students and those who will follow them. “I see how many students are ambitious and still want to get into higher ed, and it’s my responsibility to continue to believe in them,” he said. “As long as the demand is there, I believe the universities will continue to find ways to help these students, as they’re our future.” 

Del Real is encouraged by the support M.S.U. Denver continues to give its student body considering the funding cuts. “We continue to communicate with our students, faculty, and staff that we are here, and we’ve seen this before,” he said. “We’re very proactive and intentional in our support.”

While the future is murky when it comes to any potential restoration of H.S.I. grants, the impacted institutions will continue to creatively find ways to replace lost dollars and keep their students in the fold. “In science, we love a challenge, and language is one of our strong points,” Lopez said. “We will get creative and find new ways to phrase our funding requests.”