ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

"It’s just a tragedy that this is the place that we’re in, that there’s just a series of disinvestments from the federal government in programs that enable economic mobility," saidÌýPCC Governing Board Chair Greg Taylor at a September board meeting.Ìý

Board member Theresa Riel said they weren’t just talking about economic mobility but about human lives and human capital.

“When a family gains intellectual knowledge, everything about that family continues to improve,� she said at the meeting. “And if we’re cutting these programs, it’s not just finances but it’s also the livelihoods and the lives, it’s happiness and being able to put braces on your child’s teeth if they need them, on and on and on. So, it’s harming humans.�

The federal funding reductions and threatened cuts include:

• $1.7 million lost annuallyÌý¾±²ÔÌýÌýgrants, a federally-funded college prep program designed to serve low-income, first-generation college students. Five TRIO grants were discontinued between May, August and as recently as September.

• $3.36 millionÌý¾±²Ô adult educationÌýfunds were released to PCC, but left out of the fiscal year 2026 federal budget. With the or the suspended by the Trump administration, adult education funds are also uncertain as the college moves forward.

• 1.1 million lost in totalÌýfor (CCAMPIS) child-care funding, which includes an on-campus child-care center in PCC’s Desert Vista campus.

• $4.1 million at threat of being lostÌýsinceÌýPCC is a (HSI). This means the $10.4 million it has in active HSI grants is at risk, out of which about $4.1 million is remaining. PCC received notice Sept. 10 that the U.S. Department of Education would discontinue certain HSI grants, but the notice didn’t say which specific grants.

Taylor said the uncertainty makes it even worse. He said while it would be great to get good news, they’d rather just have the bad news instead of being in a state of limbo, calling that a “nightmare.�

“I hate to say the federal government has become unreliable, but they sort of have become unreliable in this situation,� he said.

“And even if money gets allocated, we don’t even really know because they could just decide at some point (that) it’s gone. Like, it’s really difficult to make forward-looking plans for an institution. …What can we do as a community with the revenue streams that we have access to, to make investments in the proper places?� he continued. “And again, it just kind of kills me to say that. I mean, it’s heartbreaking that we’re in that position, but I really feel like that’s the reality of where we are.�

Transparency is key

A certain level of transparency should be the minimum expectation for any taxpayer-funded institution, and the public should be informed and able to give their opinions so PCC canÌýmake the best decisions for students, their success and continuation of the institution, Taylor told the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV Thursday.

“I do think that there is a lot of fear out there right now about retribution or being targeted when you speak out or complain about some of the things that are happening, and we have those concerns as well,� he continued. “I mean, we see it happening to other people, but from my perspective, I think certainly the voters have elected me, but the taxpayers in general that fund the college deserve information about how their money is being spent and what the situation we’re facing is.�

What do the cuts mean for PCC?

Taylor explained the importance of federal dollars for PCC, especially given the state Legislature’s diminishing investment in community colleges over the years. He said the college has been sustaining itself on tuition, fees and property taxes more than on state and federal dollars.

In June this year, PCC announced its $332.7 million budget for this fiscal year, which kept student tuition the same, slightly reduced the property tax rate, and also gave its employees raises.

The cancellation of the five TRIO grants will affect PCC’s personnel and students, especially high school students that PCC was working with on the path to college, the board was told by Joseph Mais, PCC’s director of government andÌý community relations.

Out of the five cancelled grantsÌý— all of which focused not on current Pima students but on local high school students to help them in college readinessÌý— PCC has been able to fund two out of its own pocket.

“One of the TRIO grants for the Upward Bound Summer program, we received the cancellation notice literally two days before the program was supposed to go live that brought school students to our campuses to go through mentoring and college readiness and academic prep,� said Taylor. “We did vote and I voted for it and I’m happy we were able to sustain that program. …We didn’t want to throw those families into chaos.�

Taylor said these programs were about reaching primarily first-generation, low-income college students who had barriers in accessing higher education. These grants helped them prep for college, made them understand what degrees and certificates were available, how financial aid works, and more.

Regarding the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which was suspended by the Trump administration, Mais said the U.S. Senate made “a big stink� about this during the summer, and the funds were released. However, there is still uncertainty about funding to educate non-traditional students, Mais said.

Adult education funds from the federal government, which are filtered down to PCC through the Arizona Department of Education, pay for General Education Development or GED classes for individuals pursuing their high school equivalency certification.

CCAMPIS, which Mais said is “one of the patchwork of funds we use to provide child care at our Desert Vista campus,� was stopped in its fourth year and wasn’t renewed. The current funds the college has will run out on Sept. 30, he said at the meeting.

Speaking of future plans of action, Elizabeth Howell, PCC’s executive director of community and government relations, said the college will primarily pay stipends to students who are parents and will have some outside sources they will encourage the students to use.

PCC Chancellor Jeffrey Nasse said the college is working through a number of options to try and maintain some level of service and that it will be difficult to do what the CCAMPIS grant did. He said they also recently had a meeting with a potential donor, who might be willing to fund some aspect of it, but it’s still a work in progress.

Taylor said the CCAMPIS grant was important as PCC had identified a lack of access to child care as a significant barrier to students, since community college students are different than traditional four-year college students.

“A lot of our students are working either full- or part-time while they’re attending classes, and a lot of them are parents and quite a few of them are single parents as well,â€� he said. “So, not having access to reliable child careÌý— something that’s safe and affordable for them and effective — really affects their ability to be able to pursue their education. And so, the college embarked on a pathway to try to bring more access to child care to our students.â€�

On Sept. 10, the U.S. Department of Education also announced it plans to end discretionary grant programs for a number ofÌý, asserting such programs amount to discrimination and are unconstitutional because they require colleges to enroll a certain percentage of students from a particular racial or ethnic background to qualify.

Mais and Taylor both said it was important to note that the federal funds PCC receives as part of this for being an HSI college are used for the entire university community and not just for the minority communities the college serves.

While PCC does not know which specific HSI grants are at risk, PCC receives $600,000 annually for the Strive Online Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Grant and $870,000 in an annual HSI STEM-IT Knowledge and Context Grant, which may be discontinued.

“I’m glad we’re exploring options for child care and other things, but I also want to set expectations for people who are watching,� Taylor said. “There is no realistic way that we, out of our assets, minus these grants, can just sustain all of these programs as is without these federal dollars. It’s just not possible. We might be able to keep some variation of some of these programs, so that we can do some things locally to invest in programs that we know lead to economic mobility for our students and our community.�