The Department of Education is redirecting nearly $500 million to historically Black and tribal colleges and universities, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate any sign of race-conscious policymaking in other parts of the government.
“The Department has carefully scrutinized our federal grants, ensuring that taxpayers are not funding racially discriminatory programs but those programs which promote merit and excellence in education,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will use every available tool to meaningfully advance educational outcomes and ensure every American has the opportunity to succeed in life.”
The one-time, discretionary injection of funds will be offset by reductions to other major education initiatives elsewhere, including a $350 million cut announced last week for institutions enrolling large numbers of Hispanic students and other efforts supporting schools serving diverse student bodies.
The White House has described such programs, some of which require a certain percentage of minority students at a college or university to qualify for funding, as illegal race-based quotas.
The shift in funds comes despite a variety of Trump administration efforts criticized for harming minority students elsewhere, including a mass review of Smithsonian museums, which the White House has accused of putting an “overemphasis on slavery,” and scaling back the Department of Education’s civil rights investigations, which were long a prominent tool in stopping racial segregation and abuse in the school system.
Despite these efforts, and the White House’s larger campaign to eradicate anything resembling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, Trump has shown an interest in both terms in supporting historically black colleges and universities, institutions created during the Jim Crow era to serve Black students denied education elsewhere that are now open to pupils of all races.
During his first term, Trump secured more than $250 million in annual funding for such schools and cancelled repayment on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal relief loans.
