SEARAC AANAPISI Archives

SEARAC Celebrates the 15-Year Anniversary of the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) program

For Immediate Release:
September 28, 2022

Media contacts:
Elaine Sanchez Wilson
Director of Communications and Development
202-601-2970
elaine@searac.org

WASHINGTON, DC – SEARAC joins our education partners this week in celebrating 15 years of the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) program.

On Sept. 27, 2007, Congress established the AANAPISI program to improve the availability and quality of postsecondary education programs to support low-income, first generation Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) students. Southeast Asian American students continue to benefit from this important program as our communities work to overcome generational barriers to accessing quality education.

SEARAC was at the table with national partners in creating the AANAPISI program. Over the years, SEARAC has remained a steadfast champion for increased support for AANAPISIs and for increasing access to higher education for Southeast Asian Americans. While AANAPISI campuses make up only 6.1% of all U.S. colleges and universities, they enroll nearly half of all AANHPI students in the country.

“Accessing higher education continues to be out of reach for many first generation students, English learners, and students of color, especially within the Southeast Asian American community,” Quyên Đinh, SEARAC’s Executive Director stated. “Southeast Asian American students benefit from attending AANAPISIs through accessing more supportive community networks to navigate higher education. We urge Congress to show its support for the AANHPI communities through increasing funding for AANAPISIs, which continues to be the lowest funded Minority Serving Institution programs in the United States.”

“One of the great untold stories in the 1990s was the lack of equity in higher education being experienced by Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asian Americans,” said Congressman Robert Underwood, who championed the AANAPISI program during his time in Congress. “This reality provided additional energy to seek legislation which established federal recognition of universities and colleges which served Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The broader Asian Pacific American community needed to be recognized in higher education legislation so that higher education opportunities would be extended to this community. In turn, the country would be stronger and truer to its principles. The struggle for recognition continues, but the faces of those activists in the Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the 1990s are fresh in my memory and gave us the initial boost.”

“It is time to celebrate the achievement of 15 years of AANAPISIs, a program created by and for our AANHPI communities,” shared KaYing Yang, former SEARAC Executive Director and a member of President Biden’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (PACAANHPI). “Our Southeast Asian American communities continue to face persistently higher levels of trauma and poverty and lower levels of matriculation into colleges and universities, where they may continue to face social, financial, and racial barriers. AANAPISIs help to alleviate these barriers by enrolling higher rates of underrepresented groups within AANHPI communities and creating space with opportunities and equity for AANHPIs in mind.”

To learn more about AANAPISIs and AANAPISI Week, visit the APIA Scholars website, where you can also sign onto a letter requesting more funding for these institutions in FY23 appropriations. You can also learn more about the unique educational needs of Southeast Asian Americans on SEARAC’s website.

SEARAC Denounces Senate Inaction, Demands Immediate Funding for AANAPISIs

Washington, DC–Today, Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released a limited set of higher education bills that fails to set up all students–especially underserved and marginalized students–for postsecondary success. He also continues to block the Senate from voting on the bipartisan FUTURE Act, which would reauthorize Asian American Native American Pacific Islanders Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs) and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) before funding for the programs expires on September 30. With his inaction on the FUTURE Act, he holds hostage critical funding for students of color and low-income students to push a narrow set of bills that neither comprehensively reauthorizes the Higher Education Act in service of all communities nor addresses students’ civil rights.

“It is disgraceful that Sen. Alexander pushes his own stripped-down set of higher education bills instead of allowing the Senate to vote on the FUTURE Act,” said Quyen Dinh, executive director of SEARAC. “SEARAC and the civil rights community have repeatedly called for a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act that ensures that all students–including SEAA students–can thrive and protects students’ civil rights. The senator’s bill package fails to do this, and his refusal to let the Senate pass the FUTURE Act before next Monday jeopardizes the education and success of millions of students of color and low-income students across the country.”

TAKE ACTION: Call your senators to let them know that you support funding for AANAPISIs because they support low-income and first-generation SEAA students

Here is what you can do:

1. Call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to get connected to your senators or click here to find your senators’ info.

2. You can say: “My name is ____, and I’m from (city), (state). I’m calling today to urge the Senate to vote immediately on the FUTURE Act (HR2486), which has already passed the House. The FUTURE Act must be signed into law before September 30 in order for AANAPISIs and other minority serving institutions to get the funding they need to support low-income and first-generation SEAA students and other students of color. However, Sen. Lamar Alexander is preventing the Senate from voting on this crucial bill. Students of color and low-income students have a right to thrive in higher education. Can I count on [senator’s name] to demand that the Senate immediately takes a vote to pass the FUTURE Act?”

Take Action: Demand That Your Senators Support Southeast Asian American Students through AANAPISI Funding

Kayhlia Yang is a current student at UCLA and a recent graduate of Irvine Valley College, an AANAPISI community college in California. Kayhlia transferred to IVC after a year at a different institution because of the opportunities that IVC’s AANAPISI programs could offer her.

“AANAPISIs are important because they allow for Asian American students, like myself, to come together and feel a sense of belonging,” Kayhlia said. “This space has allowed me to build relationships I know will last a lifetime. ANAAPISIs allow for there to be a community-based foundation for Asian American students who need that … and witness what higher education has done for others.”

Kayhlia says that being a part of the AANAPISI program at IVC made a huge impact on her academics, career goals, and her Asian American identity. Last year, she applied to seven University of California campuses to continue her studies- – and was accepted at all seven!

Funding for Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs) and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) expires on September 30 — just days from today. These programs are critical to the success of underserved students of color and low-income students, including many Southeast Asian Americans who are first in their families to attend college. Despite this urgency to renew funding, Congress has yet to pass a reauthorization of these programs. The House of Representatives approved a two-year renewal last week through the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act, but the Senate is refusing to take up the bill.

TAKE ACTION: Call your senators to let them know that you support funding for AANAPISIs because they support low-income and first-generation SEAA students

Here is what you can do:

1. Call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to get connected to your senators or click here to find your senators’ info.

2. You can say: “My name is ____, and I’m from (city), (state). I’m calling today to urge the Senate to vote immediately on the FUTURE Act (HR2486), which has already passed the House. The FUTURE Act must be signed into law before September 30 in order for AANAPISIs and other minority serving institutions to get the funding they need to support low-income and first-generation SEAA students and other students of color. All students have a right to thrive in higher education. Can I count on [Senator’s name] to support the FUTURE Act?”

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the AANAPISI Program

This week, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) program, which provides support for degree-granting higher-education institutions, including community colleges, that serve at least 10% Asian American and Pacific Islander students. Overall, AANAPISI institutions enroll 41% of the nation’s AAPI college students. The AANAPISI specifically funds programs that support low-income, first-generation AAPI students.

The AANAPISI program recognizes the challenges that Southeast Asian American (SEAA) students face. Our community has significantly lower college attainment rates compared to the rest of the nation. Nearly two-thirds of Cambodian Americans, Laotian Americans, and Hmong Americans have not attended college, and this is true for half of Vietnamese Americans. In the California State University system in 2013, 85% of Hmong and Laotian freshmen, 76% of Cambodian freshmen, and 71% of Vietnamese freshmen were the first in their family to go to college. SEAA students are entering higher education in greater numbers than ever before, but programs funded by AANAPISI help make sure our students have the support they need to graduate.

SEARAC is a proud co-sponsor of a Congressional resolution introduced by Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) to recognize and uplift the importance of the AANAPISI program.