City College administrators are faced with uncertainty for the next school year following the stripping of Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) funding by the U.S. Department of Education.
In early September, the U.S. Department of Education released a statement announcing that it would be terminating discretionary funding to Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI), including Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), saying the programs “violate the equal-protection component of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.”
Much of the funding that City College has received in the grant was used to create Raíces: First Year and Beyond, the Multimodal Lab, professional development for faculty and other student services.
There were two original grants awarded which began in October 2021 and the other began in October 2022 and were set to last five years. The school has applied for a one-year extension until Sept. 30, 2026 and until then it must pay down any funds from previous years that haven’t been spent.
All programs funded by the grant will continue as they have during the extension period.
“It feels like I’m losing the project unexpectedly fast and so there’s a little bit of grief there on a personal note,” Raíces Program Director Melissa Menendez said. “This has been my life for now, coming on five years … to kind of get it pulled in this way is a little unsettling.”
The future of certain services after the one-year no-cost extension period remains uncertain.
“I believe the main global message on campus is we’re going to continue to serve you, continue to listen to your needs, listen to your goals and we’re gonna facilitate those opportunities for you to make it happen,” Raíces Program Coordinator Sergio Lagunas said.
With many unknowns in funding after September 2026, there is discussion of preservation through institutionalization, meaning Raíces would potentially move their space to East Campus to allow for needed administrative oversight.
The institutionalization of Raíces would happen so that the program and services could be funded by the institution and included in the college’s budget.
“I recognized the value of Raíces as a program and I’m dedicated to figuring out the way forward even with the loss of funding,” Superintendent-President Erika Endrijonas said. “It may look a little different, but Raíces is a part of Santa Barbara City College.”
Additionally, the role of Raíces Program Coordinator would dissolve due to the position being funded by the RISE grant (HSI grant). As the current Raíces Program Coordinator, Lagunas was prepared for this change.
Lagunas explained that since the grant was scheduled to end in September 2026, he already expected his role at City College to be temporary.
“Although my time at SBCC at Raíces was predetermined, I knew this was a role I wanted to lead on campus,” Lagunas said. “My hope is that students are able to become autonomous leaders, advocates for themselves and others and create a community of support.”
During this time of anticipated change, students are invited and encouraged to share their stories and experiences in the spaces they enjoy with the programs they benefit from. This would allow students to influence the upcoming processes and change.
“Sharing and hearing that student voice would be helpful and also help us know how to move forward in the process of institutionalization,” Menendez said. “What to keep, maybe what not, what we don’t necessarily need, so that they can be a part of that conversation.”
As City College continues to adapt in the face of unpredictability, the process remains a collective effort shaped by both leadership and students.
“The way I would look at it is you’re sort of in the middle of a television episode,” Endrijonas said. “You came in here, it all developed here but we don’t know how the story’s going to end.”
