By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans on Monday to invest $500 million in historically Black colleges and tribal universities, days after ending $350 million in grants to programs for colleges with large numbers of Hispanic students and other minority-serving institutions.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities will receive an additional $495 million on top of their anticipated 2025 investment, an increase of 48.4% and 109.3% respectively, the U.S. Education Department said in a statement.
In total, HBCUs will receive over $1.34 billion and TCCUs will receive over $108 million from the department for fiscal year 2025, it added.
The Education Department said the funding “will be repurposed from programs that the department determined are not in the best interest of students and families.”
Trump has used federal funding as leverage in his dealings with educational institutions. He has threatened to cut federal funding for universities and colleges over a range of issues like pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s assault on Gaza, transgender policies, climate initiatives and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“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,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said on Monday.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Lisa Shumaker)
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