Update on Hispanic Serving Institutions Funding
Dear Gavilan College Community,
I am writing to you today with a serious update on our college's finances. As you know, two weeks ago we received notice from the Department of Education that federal funding for one of our Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) grants would be discontinued. This grant supported our dual enrollment efforts and represents a loss of $1.8 million over the next three years. This past Tuesday, we received an unexpected notification that funding for our STEM HSI grant, which supported our STEM program, would also be discontinued, resulting in an additional loss of $1 million for the upcoming year.
The combined impact is a significant reduction of $2.8 million in funding to Gavilan College over the next three years.
We understand that this news can be unsettling. However, I want to reassure you that this is a challenge we are prepared to meet. The strategic work we've done over the last three years to stabilize our budget—ensuring that our expenses do not exceed our revenues and building a healthy one-time reserve was specifically to help manage these types of challenges.
Our priority is to mitigate this impact responsibly. We are actively reviewing all available resources, savings from our remaining grants, our reserves, and a reprioritization of our general funds. Our commitment is to protect the salaries of our employees and minimize the disruption to the vital services and programs that these grants have supported.
We will keep you informed as we make these difficult but necessary adjustments. Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our students and our college.
Kind Regards,
Dr. Pedro Avila
Superintendent/President
5055 Santa Teresa Boulevard | Gilroy, CA 95020
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