Federal cuts leave CU Boulder language and migrant student programs scrambling

The federal Department of Education has discontinued funding for several long-running higher education programs, eliminating key grants for CU Boulder’s BUENO Center and Center for Asian Studies. 

The cuts are part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to curb diversity initiatives and eliminate programs it considers nonessential that is reshaping federal support for higher education across the country.

Together, the two CU Boulder programs lost more than $2.2 million in grants — funding that supported foreign-language instruction, international scholarship programs, and college access for children of migrant farmworkers. University officials say the long-term viability of both programs is now in doubt. 

The BUENO Center lost all funding for its College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP, which provides scholarships for seasonal migrant farmworkers or their children to attend college. The cut totaled about $1.7 million. While CAMP still operates at a handful of universities in Colorado, its longstanding, consistent coverage across the Front Range has been dismantled. The grant was supposed to last five years, but BUENO received only one year of funding before it was terminated. 

The loss of funding affects the 30 first-year college students supported by CAMP each each year, program director Robert Garcia said. Those students would have gone on to mentor 30 additional middle and high school students preparing for higher education. After students’ first year, CAMP can still offer academic and career support. 

According to the Sept. 15 notice of grant non-continuation, the Department of Education discontinued the grant because it “may conflict with the Department’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education.” 

Meanwhile, the Center for Asian Studies lost about $500,000 in funding from two grants that supported foreign language fellowships, faculty positions specializing in Tibet and the Himalayas, and a new course blending Asian studies and climate science. The center is the only program of its kind in Colorado. The loss means the center will have to cut programming and reduce the number of students it sends abroad for immersive language study. The two grants made up about three-quarters of expenditures from the previous academic year, according to Executive Director Danielle Rocheleau Salaz.

A separate non-continuation letter dated Sept. 10 said the programs were deemed “inconsistent with Administration priorities and do not advance American interests or values.” 

Both programs have deep roots. The Center for Asian Studies is partially funded through Title VI grants, which support foreign languages and international area studies programs. These grants date back to the National Defense Education Act of 1958, passed after the launch of Sputnik, when the U.S.  deemed strong global and language education essential. Title VI later became part of the Higher Education Act. 

As of September, all Title VI grants nationwide have been discontinued, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. Salaz said the Department of Education’s Office of International and Foreign Language Education was dissolved in March as part of federal layoffs. 

CAMP was established in the 1970s to support migratory farmworkers who move with harvest cycles, often leaving them with interrupted schooling and limited access to education. The program has operated at CU Boulder for over 25 years. 

Garcia told Boulder Reporting Lab that without federal funding, the existence of the program at the university is in jeopardy. He compared the loss of funding to a “gushing wound.” While CU Boulder has offered temporary support, he said, it is a “band-aid.”  

“We’re looking for stitches, we’re looking for proper medical care,” Garcia said.  

Jessely Chaparro, assistant director of CU Boulder’s CAMP — and a CAMP alum herself — said the program changed her life. She grew up attending a small rural school in northwest Colorado and wanted to pursue higher education. Her father had done seasonal migrant farmwork since he was 14, and a CAMP scholarship helped her become the first in her family to earn a college degree, completing her bachelor’s at MSU Denver.

Chaparro later began working in community advocacy and eventually joined the CAMP team at CU Boulder. She said she wanted to provide other students the same support she once needed, noting that higher education can feel intimidating or inaccessible. Being in someone’s corner matters, she said, to “shatter those glass ceilings.”

At the Center for Asian Studies, Salaz said the program has enough funding to maintain current offerings through the 2025–26 academic year. After that, she expects the center to look very different. CU Boulder is providing short-term support, but federal grants made up the bulk of the center’s budget. “There’s nothing to replace that,” faculty director Rachel Rinaldo said.

The university will also fund a CAMP scholarship cohort this spring. After that, Garcia said, the future is uncertain. He has been connecting with local foundations and potential donors to try to keep the program moving forward. 

“The need is still there,” Garcia said. “The students deserve these opportunities.”