UAF loses millions in funding from Feds

By Colin A. Warren

The University of Alaska Fairbanks lost millions of dollars last week after the U.S. Department of Education terminated funding for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students that supports 21 UAF employees. UAF Interim Chancellor Mike Sfraga addressed staff and faculty in a Sept. 11email expressing that the cuts saying “will have a substantial and negative impact on a large number of Alaskans, including our Alaska Native students.”

The nixed grants for UAF totaled an estimated $2.9 million. The Trump administration announced that it was withholding an estimated $350 million of funding that the U.S. Congress had approved for over 800 minority-serving education institutions nationwide. The decision is consistent with the Administration’s goal of disbanding programs focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The federal government is allowing up to a year to sunset the programs.

At UAF the grants were for Title III workforce development programs at the Community and Technical College, or CTC, and the Bristol Bay Campus. At CTC, the affected programs were an American Sign Language program, a private pilot ground school endorsement, and an IT technician endorsement, which currently employs 14 people. At Bristol Bay, the affected program was a professional academic planning program that supports seven staff positions. No employees have been dismissed yet. 

Bryan Uher, Interim Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education noted that, although campuses needed a minimum of 20% minority students to qualify for the grants, that “this funding supports any student and all students, regardless of race or ethnicity.”

Uher explained that they’re still evaluating financials and impacts of the cuts. 

He confirmed that fund-raising is still continuing for the Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center.