Minnesota Colleges Lose Millions of Dollars in Grants for Students

Colleges and universities across the US are facing huge losses as grants are continuing to be cut by the Trump administration. It's causing headaches and worry for faculty and students alike.

These cuts are definitely affecting schools in Minnesota and will cause them to lose out on millions of dollars in promised grant money to help students pay for school.

SEED Grant Cut Hits the University of St. Thomas

Almost two weeks ago, hundreds of students, including 185 at the University of St. Thomas, had money that was promised to them totally cut. The money was going to help them get an education in special education or elementary education.

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This particular grant is called the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant and the amount that just St. Thomas lost due to the cut was $6.8 million.

The reason for the cut is that the grant program "was flagged by the Trump administration as a 'DEI' initiative, part of the administration's war on diversity programs".

University of St. Thoman's president Rob Vischer said that "diversity was not the main goal of this program." The point of the SEED grant was to help deal with the shortage of teachers we are experiencing in Minnesota. Therefore, cutting it doesn't make sense and causes stress on students who need the money.

Another Grant Cut at the University of St. Thomas

Another grant that has been notified of termination at St. Thomas is a grant that helps students pay for school who are working to become charter school teachers.

St. Thomas isn't the only Minnesota school affected, the University of Minnesota has also lost grant money, too.

University of Minnesota Loses Grant Money

The grant program that the UofM lost is the Teacher Quality Partnership grant, which helps students who plan to become "special education teachers in rural, urban, and suburban districts."

How Much Money Minnesota Colleges Have Lost in Grants So Far

The total amount of money lost just from those three grant programs being cut totals almost $12 million. That's money that's supposed to help students get through college, become teachers, and help stop the shortage of teachers we are experiencing in Minnesota.