Senate Democrats Demand Education Department Restore Funding to Minority-Serving Institutions

A coalition of 30 Senate Democrats and independents is demanding the Trump administration reverse its decision to cut federal funding to minority-serving institutions, warning the move threatens the education of millions of students and sets a dangerous legal precedent.

Sen. Alex PadillaLed by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Hispanic-Serving Institutions Caucus, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the senators sent a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon calling on the department to immediately restore both discretionary and mandatory funding to more than 800 federally recognized minority-serving institutions.

"This decision is yet another example of this Administration attempting to circumvent Congress and its obligations to follow the law," the senators wrote. "Unilaterally deciding that long-standing programs are unconstitutional, absent a ruling from the judiciary, sets a dangerous precedent and disrupts needed support that colleges and students rely on."

The conflict stems from a December 2, 2025, opinion issued by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, which determined that federal grant programs for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, and Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions are unconstitutional. The Education Department subsequently announced it was evaluating the opinion's full impact on affected programs.

The administration's legal rationale rests on the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which prohibited race-conscious admissions policies at colleges and universities. But the senators argue the administration has badly misapplied that precedent.

MSIs do not determine federal funding eligibility based on admissions policies, the senators noted. Instead, institutions qualify based on their existing student enrollment — for example, Hispanic-Serving Institutions must demonstrate that at least 25 percent of enrolled students are Hispanic — as well as lower-than-average per-student expenditures and high percentages of Pell Grant recipients.

"MSIs are not directed nor required to employ race-conscious admissions policies," the letter states. "They are evaluated based on the population of students they already serve at the time they are applying for funding."