March 19, 2020

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities has signed on to a letter directed to the leadership of the appropriations and education and labor committees of the U.S. House of Representatives urging them to support funding for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. The letter requests $1.5. billion be set aside for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions and other MSIs, for flexibility to temporarily modify Titles III, V, and VII to allow for institutions to use current grant awards for emergency needs.

The letter points out:

Like all sectors of our society, the higher education system has been drastically impacted by COVID-19. There have been announcements of institutions of higher education (IHEs) moving classes online, extending spring break, changing their grading systems to pass/fail, adapting their campuses to permit students to shelter in place, and simply shutting their doors all together while working to protect the health and safety of their students. While COVID-19 is having an obvious impact on all IHEs, the effect of this virus impacts our institutions to a much greater degree because our IHEs are under-resourced, often do not have the infrastructure to allow for distance education, and have historically lacked the requisite funding to address the inequities in the higher education system.

For a copy of the letter and the names of signatories, click here.