By Gwendolyn Glenn
The billions of financial aid dollars disbursed annually by the Department of Education are especially important for students at historically Black colleges and universities, where more than 50% qualify for Pell Grants issued for low-income students.
President Trump’s push to shut down the Education Department and his executive order to end federal funds for education institutions that have diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have HBCU students and administrators worried. Patrick Martin, Johnson C. Smith University’s provost, talked to WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn about some of those concerns.
Patrick Martin: Well, I think the elimination of the Education Department would send huge negative consequences throughout America or if we did major restructuring of it. But at this point, we have been given assurances that the large portion of student aid will remain intact at the current moment. Students who rely on a significant amount of federal financial aid, you know, can continue and finish out the school year.
Gwendolyn Glenn: And, who gave you these assurances?
Martin: We heard assurances from department-designate head Linda McMahon, even after the executive order was issued, that financial aid was not part of the executive order, and so that students who were relying on financial aid could continue to receive that financial aid.
Glenn: Are you getting any calls from parents, or are students, you know, bombarding offices of administrators wondering about the future of their aid and the future of the finances of the university?
Martin: Bombarding? Definitely not. When the executive order initially came out, probably the first two or three days after that, students were concerned. We had student leaders who represented certain groups of students reach out to say, ‘Well, what does this mean?’ And we were quickly able to show to them the reports that were coming from the federal government that student financial aid was safe at the current time and that they did not have any concerns regarding their financial aid for the spring 2025 semester.
Glenn: But what about into the future and into next year? Because many students at HBCUs are first-generation college students, and many receive some form of financial aid. What are your thoughts on that?
Martin: Yeah, a lot of our students at Johnson C. Smith and other HBCUs, minority-serving institutions — and for that matter our large majority institutions receive a significant portion of the rising cost of higher education — are subsidized by Pell Grants and other forms of federal financial aid.
I can speak particularly over the academic and research structure, which excludes student financial that we have roughly over the last three years averaged about $10 million in federal aid or federal grants that support academic and research endeavors at the institution. And some of that is, of course, aligned with scholarship dollars as well, but that is not the student federal financial aid.
So, am I concerned? Yes, we’re openly concerned about how these funds could be addressed — and especially those that run some of the programs that we run to support our students, such as TRIO, McNair, Upward Bound, and our Title III program. These are student support services funding that comes from the Department of Education. They help support first-generation students and students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Glenn: What about the administration’s stance regarding DEI programs — diversity, equity, and inclusion — and not wanting DEI programs to continue?
Martin: That’s extremely concerning because, again, some of our programs — if you looked at a broad lens of DEI — would fall under that category of DEI, as a lot of our focus is. As we train our students, how do we help them move into fields or arenas or careers that lack people of color, that lack people of certain ethnicities, and people from certain socioeconomic backgrounds.
Yeah, we are very concerned about the removal of DEI wording and naming from a lot of federal funding sources, and it definitely could negatively affect us at Johnson C. Smith and HBCUs. We are looking at how much exposure we have to this and how can we offset that exposure in the short- and long-term.
We’re always trying to diversify our portfolio, and a lot of times that diversification does not mean always going after federal dollars. Are there private dollars? Are there philanthropic dollars that we can go after? Is it plausible we can be competitive in the next six months?
Glenn: Has any of the funding been held up from the Trump administration, on dollars that have been already approved?
Martin: Initially, when the executive order initially came out, part of the order did affect some of the electronic finances from the federal government. It was roughly four or five days. After the order was rescinded, the federal government reopened those electronic funding sources, and the money began to flow again.
Glenn: Anything else you’d like to add in terms of, as I said, these are uncertain times, a lot of unknowns.
Martin: I will say, Johnson C. Smith has a bright future. We’ve seen a significant uptick in our enrollment. We’ve had over 10% increase in student retention in about a year, year and a half. So, we have some very exciting research and activities going on. And although there is some chaos, JCSU was founded in 1867 to educate recently freed slaves. And I’m pretty sure throughout our 158 years, times have been bleak — maybe even bleaker than that they are now. So, I look at this as an opportunity to overcome challenges. And we will continue to produce the best and brightest students that we can from Johnson C. Smith University.