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Widespread cuts at the U.S. Department of Education and its potential closure stand to drastically harm the finances of historically Black colleges and universities — and perhaps even close some campuses, experts say.
Following mass layoffs that have cut roughly half of the Education Department’s staff, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March directing the closure of the entire federal agency “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.” Several groups are challenging the order to shutter the agency.
The nation’s roughly 100 HBCUs receive billions each year from federal programs, including federal student aid — much of which flows through the Education Department, Terrell Strayhorn, director of research at the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University, said in a March interview.
Institutions that rely on federal grants from the Education Department for research, campus improvements and student services could face financial insolvency, Strayhorn said. That could lead to deep program cuts, restructuring, layoffs, and, for the most vulnerable HBCUs, campus closures, he said.
Much is still unknown about the impact of the Education Department’s cuts or how the agency’s closure would play out, Strayhorn said. But “all scenarios seem to create harmful risks for HBCUs,” he said.
Congress would have to authorize the total closure of the Education Department. However, the Trump administration has already cut hundreds of millions worth of the agency’s grants and proposed massive reductions to its programs and services for the federal government’s fiscal 2026 budget.
“This is more than just bureaucratic reshuffling — these cuts threaten the very presence and long-term sustainability of some HBCUs,” Strayhorn said.
However, the Trump administration has also recently expressed support for HBCUs.
An April 23 executive order stated HBCUs should have “equal opportunities for participation in Federal programs.” It also created a board of advisors on HBCUs to “increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest-quality education to an increasing number of students,” though such a panel existed before Trump’s second term.
Still, the mass layoffs at the Education Department have already disrupted some essential services on which HBCUs rely, particularly with grant processing and technical assistance, said Strayhorn.
“Cutting [the Education Department] is cutting student success,” Strayhorn said.
What could get cut?
The moves by the Trump administration are “intentionally” wrecking “beyond repair” functions undertaken by the Education Department, Denise Smith, deputy director of higher education policy and senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank, said in an interview in March.
The cuts to the agency could disrupt millions of dollars in federal funding and loan programs for faculty hiring, campus infrastructure and student support services, including those for veterans, said Strayhorn. The Strengthening HBCUs Program, for example, provides direct financial support to those institutions to help them boost their academic, administrative, and financial capabilities, he said. The fate of that, and other programs are “at risk,” he said.
The Trump administration’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal calls for eliminating federal funding for a similar grant program for colleges, called Strengthening Institutions, which the White House accused of being “used to promote DEI, inconsistent with the Administration’s priorities and Executive Orders.”
The Minority Science and Engineering Improvement program supports STEM education at predominantly minority institutions. If that funding dries up, it could further marginalize Black scholars and limit opportunities for advanced STEM education, graduate studies and research, Strayhorn said.
The Education Department’s closure could also strip HBCUs of civil rights services — as the agency’s Office of Civil Rights could either be defunded or moved under the U.S. Department of Justice, said Strayhorn.
The Education Department in March shuttered seven of its 12 civil rights enforcement offices, letting hundreds of its employees go. Trump’s budget proposal also calls for slashing OCR’s funding by $49 million, which would amount to a 35% reduction.
Gutting the department could also make it harder for HBCU students to secure financial aid and lead to more student loan borrowers entering into default, Strayhorn said. Other higher education experts have also voiced concerns about disruptions to student aid.
Trump has shared plans to move the U.S.’s student loan portfolio from the purview of Federal Student Aid to the Small Business Administration. But it’s still unclear whether student aid would be managed by SBA and if such a move could make applying for aid harder, said Strayhorn.
Other programs could be impacted due to potential cuts in the workers who oversee them, or they are eliminated altogether, Strayhorn said. That includes Federal Work-Study, which provides part-time jobs to students with financial needs, and the Second Chance Pell program, which allows students who are incarcerated to receive federal financial aid to earn degrees through HBCUs and other colleges,
To prepare for the cuts and potential loss in federal funding, some smaller HBCUs started contingency planning by identifying essential programs they operate and finding ways to ensure their continuity, said Strayhorn. Those institutions are also strategizing how to support students if their financial aid is disrupted, he said.
A handful of colleges said they’re also reviving and revisiting some of the strategies that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Strayhorn.
For example, leaders are looking at implementing remote services, offering short-term payment plans to students for tuition, and are seeking new private-sector investments for grants that help students complete their credentials, he said.
LeMoyne-Owen College, based in Memphis, Tennessee, launched a program that would pay back $20,000 each year to some of its graduates who are working but earn less than $45,000 annually. The program is partly funded through its endowment, according to local media.
Institutions are also engaging with their state representatives so they can secure additional support for their facilities, Smith said.
But, “the historic underfunding at the state level raises serious concerns about whether states are willing to actually ensure these institutions receive support they need independent of federal assistance,” Smith said.
‘We’re definitely concerned’
HBCUs face federal losses from agencies other than the Education Department.
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is among the 19 HBCUs established under the Morrill Act of 1890, which aimed to open land-grant colleges for African Americans in states that had discriminatory admissions policies at their existing land-grant institutions.
But a loss or decline of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture could be devastating for such 1890 land-grant institutions.
The Trump administration indefinitely paused the scholarship program for the institutions’ students in February before reinstating it days later following public outcry.
1890 institutions also receive research and extension program funding from the federal government that states are required to match. Historically, many states have not matched the amount those historically Black institutions are owed — even while adequately matching funding levels for predominantly White land-grant institutions.
Over the past three decades, 16 states have collectively underfunded their land-grant HBCUs to the tune of over $12 billion. Maryland alone owed the University of Maryland Eastern Shore $321 million during that time, according to a 2023 letter to the state’s governor from the former secretaries of the Education and Agriculture departments.
Since temporarily pausing the scholarship program, the Trump administration has signaled support for the 1890 land-grant institutions’ funding, urging states to “provide the required State matching funds,” in the April 23 executive order.
A significant portion of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s resources come from grants issued by different departments across the federal government, such as the Agriculture Department, said Robert Vickers Jr., the university’s vice president for strategic communications and marketing.
And, like many HBCUs, the university operates on a tight budget. Any disruption in expected funding “could have a massive effect on our ability to educate our students, to support our communities,” he said.
University of Maryland Eastern Shore leaders are monitoring developments at the federal level, and consulting with their federal, state and local stakeholders so they are “prepared to make sure that there are no significant interruptions of our normal operations,” said Vickers.
“But we’re definitely concerned by what’s happening,” Vickers added. “Anything that would minimize the financial support that we get from the federal government could directly affect the American exceptionalism that we’ve been accustomed to for generations.”
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Danielle McLean
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