Center for Asian Studies sign on Denison Arts & Sciences Building on Oct. 20, 2025 (Avery Clifton/CU Independent)
After being awarded four years of funding by the U.S. Department of Education in August 2022, the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder was notified Sept. 10 that its final year of funding was cut.
The center announced the loss of two grants totaling $537,000 that were meant to last until August 2026.
According to the center, that funding was intended to go toward student fellowships, teacher salaries, Asia-related events and programming, tuition stipends for graduate students and even funding for students to study abroad.
In the fiscal year 2026 budget summary, the U.S. Department of Education found that “These programs are inconsistent with administration priorities and do not advance American interests or values.”
Rachel Rinaldo, faculty director of the Center for Asian Studies, said there were early signs pointing to funding cuts in March.
“In mid-March, we didn’t receive any official notification, but we started seeing on social media that the whole department that had administered our grant in the Department of Education had been fired,” Rinaldo said.
According to Rinaldo, the center has enough rollover funding to not have its operations impacted this school year. However, the center is entering uncertain times as it searches for new sources of funding from other grants or possible donors.
“We’re planning to do a lot of grant writing this year,” Rinaldo said.
Foreign Language and Area Studies students at CU will lose opportunities offered by the program’s grant, specifically scholarship and fellowship funding.
“We were so excited to be able to offer those when we got this grant, because they provide a scholarship for an academic year for students to take advanced, higher division classes,” said Rinaldo.
John Lee, co-president of CU’s Asian Unity club, urged students to “enroll in classes in that department.”
Lee emphasized the openness of the department’s courses, saying, “I have taken two years of Asian studies courses, even though they were unrelated to my major. They’re not very restrictive. Anybody can join them.”
Lee said he believes that by increasing attendance, students can demonstrate the department’s importance and show solidarity.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer James Bui at James.Bui@colorado.edu
