Minnesota lawmakers spotlight impact of canceled federal higher education grants

Democratic state lawmakers are attempting to assess the impact of federal grant cuts on higher education in Minnesota. 

A state senate subcommittee on Thursday drew testimony from representatives of six colleges and universities, who spoke about federal awards totaling over $50 million that have been disrupted by federal funding cuts.

Since President Donald Trump took office, federal agencies have revoked thousands of grants to colleges and universities that do not fit with the administration’s goals. In Minnesota, schools have lost funding for programs that supported the K-12 special education teacher workforce, the studying of aging, and academic pursuits of first-generation and underrepresented students, among other things.

The Trump administration has argued that diversity-focused spending must be eliminated because it disadvantages white and Asian people, in particular, and violates existing civil rights law that prohibits race-based discrimination. Administration officials have argued the concept of systemic racism, which diversity-focused programs seek to undermine, does not exist. 

The state Senate DFL Caucus announced the creation of the subcommittee on the Federal Impact on Minnesotans and Economic Stability in September. It makes a goal of understanding Trump administration decisions on Minnesotans. 

“Sometimes it feels like this committee is like a train ride through horrors,” said chair Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville. “Every two weeks, we get a new subject of something terrible that’s happening to our state.”

The committee includes six Democrats and three Republicans. However, testimony on Thursday was dominated by criticism of the Trump administration’s decisions from Democratic representatives.

It’s difficult to assess the overall scope of federal dollars that have been cut across programs and research for Minnesota schools. Colleges and universities typically learn about federal funding cancellations through a letter from the federal government, which they can appeal.

The University of Minnesota has tracked 101 federally funded research awards, totaling $33 million, that have been terminated or suspended by the Trump administration.

Those federal dollars were being used to fund research for the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency.

At St. Catherine University, the federal government has cut five grants totaling over $2.4 million, said Katie Campbell, an associate professor and the assistant vice president for sponsored programs, research and external engagement. That figure represents the total funding amount lost, the university confirmed via email. 

“As a small institution, this is a substantial loss,” Campbell told the subcommittee.

Among the funding revoked from St. Catherine was a grant for aging-related research that supports students from underrepresented groups using National Institute on Aging dollars.

Nesteho Abdi, a third-year public health student, testified that the program has been a “godsend.” She described herself as a refugee and a first-generation college student who learned of the aging research program at a time when she was questioning her career path. 

“It has instilled in me the belief that as a young Black woman in this day and age, when inequities are still present, I am capable of making substantial change,” Abdi said.

At Augsburg University, federal cuts have impacted a program that sought to diversify STEM graduates, and another that supported first-generation college students named for Ronald McNair, an astronaut and physicist who was among the first African Americans to enter space. 

Augsburg’s McNair Scholars Program was among 18 of 220 McNair programs defunded across the U.S., university President Paul Pribbenow told the subcommittee. Pribbenow said the federal government eliminated funding for Augsburg’s program because grant materials referenced antiracism training for faculty and staff.  

The university got rid of that training, Pribbenow said, and appealed the grant cancellation. The appeal was denied, he said. 

“We were clearly pulled out by way of a keyword search that identified words the Trump administration has banned from federal grant applications,” Pribbenow said.

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At the University of St. Thomas, the federal government canceled about $400,000 in funding for a program that paid living-wage stipends to teachers in training while they taught in charter schools.

That federal decision left 21 students without pay, effective immediately, with less than four months before their residency ended, special education department chair Shelley Neilsen Gatti told the subcommittee.

“I’m happy to say that all 21 did finish the program and are currently teaching in Minnesota schools. We were able to scramble like mad to find a whole bunch of funding,” she said.

The federal government also canceled about $4 million in funding for a different educator development grant at St. Thomas, which was earmarked for student scholarships. 

State senate subcommittee members also heard of disruptions to a $3.9 million grant focused on children’s mental health awarded to the College of St. Scholastica. About $2 million had already been distributed to the school, but $1.95 million will not be awarded, the school clarified via email.

At Minnesota State, federal decisions will disrupt about $9.9 million for nine grants across several schools, according to committee testimony.

The Nov. 13 meeting was the fourth held so far by the subcommittee on federal impacts. Prior meetings focused on SNAP benefits, health care, and impacts of the federal government shutdown on public services in Minnesota.  

The topic of the next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 24, has yet to be announced.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared on MinnPost and was written by Cleo Krejci. It is republished here with permission under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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