F*ck it: Trump is Gutting Degree Funding And It’s Not What You Think

Alright yall, let’s call this what it is: a full on attack on education access for marginalized communities. Trump’s latest move is more than just a policy change. It is a very intentional shift in who gets to succeed in this country and who gets left behind. He is withholding three hundred and fifty million dollars in federal grants from Minority Serving Institutions, schools that exist specifically to support Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander and other historically under-resourced groups. These are not niche universities. These are community anchors. These are the places that have been giving first generation students and low income students their shot at social mobility. The reasoning behind this move is even more outrageous. Secretary Linda McMahon, who now works for the education department in his administration, claims these grants are unconstitutional because they require certain racial or ethnic enrollment levels. To put it simply, their argument is that programs created to repair the damage of racial inequality are somehow discriminatory. It is the ultimate gaslighting. It is pretending that ignoring race magically makes education fair when the entire system was built on racial exclusion to begin with. The impact of this decision is already brutal. Community colleges, which serve a massive percentage of low income and first generation students, are going to lose access to basic support systems like childcare, academic advising and mental health services. Small colleges that rely heavily on these grants will be forced to cut programs, freeze renovations and scale back student resources. Heritage University in Washington literally had to cancel renovations for their biology labs because the grant money that was supposed to fund it was suddenly gone. This is not a small inconvenience. This is the difference between being able to offer students a real education and leaving them with outdated, underfunded facilities. Now here is where it gets even more complicated. Trump is taking that same three hundred and fifty million dollars and redirecting it into one time investments for HBCUs and tribal colleges. On paper, that sounds supportive. It sounds like an investment. But when you look closely, it is really about reshuffling money, not expanding access. It is a political move, not an educational one. True support builds systems. It does not pull money from one vulnerable group just to give a symbolic boost to another. And the future looks even worse. The proposed twenty twenty six budget includes horrifying cuts to tribal colleges. Some could lose almost ninety percent of their federal funding. That is not reform. That is erasure. Tribal colleges exist because of treaty obligations and because Native communities fought to preserve their languages, cultures and sovereignty through education. Cutting them at this level is an attack on their survival. This is not just another moment in politics. This is a restructuring of power. It is a quiet rewriting of who education is for and who deserves opportunity. The communities being targeted are the ones who have had to fight the hardest for access, dignity and representation in higher education.

So yes, I am angry. We should all be angry. We cannot afford to sit still right now. If we let this slide, education stops being a public good and becomes a private club. And that is not a future any of us should accept.