This article by Native Hawaiian Initiative Alakaʻi (Coordinator) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Kamakanaokealoha Aquino was first published in Ka Wai Ola on October 1.
On September 10, 2025, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) announced that it will end discretionary funding to several Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI).
MSIs are U.S. colleges or universities that enroll a significant percentage of minority and low-income students or were created with the explicit purpose of serving such populations. MSIs provide access to higher education for students historically underrepresented in colleges and receive federal funding under the Higher Education Act (HEA) to support these students.
Some of these MSIs are known as Hispanic Serving Institutions, Predominantly Black Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNH).
Each University of Hawaiʻi (UH) campus has received federal government funding, known as Title III funds, because they qualify as AANAPIS and/or ANNH institutions. Title III is a federal program for eligible institutions of higher education to become self-sufficient and expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve and strengthen academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability.
Over the decades, these funds have been used to increase recruitment, retention, outreach, and graduation rates of Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Filipino students through various student support programs, campus collaborations, professional development for students, faculty and staff, as well as equipment and capital improvement plans for buildings and space to support these activities.
A 2014 evaluation report on the effectiveness of Title III funded programs across the UH system describes the impact of the funding:
“…survey respondents who interacted in Title III programming, attended Title III events, or made use of Title III resources reported significantly higher levels of sense of belonging and identity formation than other respondents. A common theme among both students and staff/faculty concerned the nurturing environment Title III programming and resources created on campuses throughout the system” (pp. 1-2).
Every campus in the UH system has received Title III funding and has thus been able to produce such positive results.
For example, over the past 25 years, Honolulu Community College (HCC) has used $20 million in Title III funding to launch over a dozen new programs and initiatives. These projects are now a permanent part of the college, benefiting students for years to come. While each campus has received millions of Title III dollars, not all initiatives have yet become a permanent part of the campus. Therefore, concern is high about how those projects will continue given the announcement that funding will be eliminated.
It is concerning that the USDOE is viewing MSIs and the Title III dollars as discriminatory when in fact, in our Hawaiʻi context, they have been used to uplift and support not only Native Hawaiian, Pacific Island, and Filipino students, but all students who attend the 10 UH campuses.
UH leadership has committed to contingency planning to continue to support this important work. But the loss of millions of dollars will undoubtedly be difficult to replace. As one UH staff member said, “When the kāhea goes out, we will need support. Until then, e makaʻala kākou.”
