Clatsop Community College will get critical federal funding

Published 9:00 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

The Trump administration will unfreeze $5 billion in federal education funding.

On Thursday, Clatsop Community College board members met to discuss what to do about the funding that had been placed on hold by the federal government for the schools’ Adult Education Basic and Integrated English Language and Civics Education programs — amongst other issues.

The following day on Friday afternoon, the Department of Education abruptly announced they would be releasing the $5 billion in frozen funding.

According to CCC President Jarrod Hogue, those programs that had been in limbo provide support for students who are trying to get their GED.

“Those programs really provide a lot of intensive support to help students complete their GED,” Hogue said. “That might be math interventions, or some language interventions, or one-on-one tutoring — all those kinds of support just to get students over the finish lines and hopefully into the career they want, or into college.”

Timeline of events

On July 1, the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission had received a letter from the United States Department of Education informing them the grant which provides funding for such programs through Title II — a federal education funding program — had been placed on hold pending review. 

For CCC, this meant the $207,000 grant for the 2025-26 school year —  which they had been notified of being awarded a mere month prior — was in danger.

“If the funding goes away completely, we’d certainly have a tremendous cutback in services, unless we’re able to find alternative funds,” Hogue said at the time.

In an effort to remain financially stable should the grant not be released, CCC decided not to offer one of its low-attendance summer courses.

But now that the Trump Administration unfroze the funding, those programs can continue. 

Officials weigh in on change of course

North Coast Congressional Representative Suzanne Bonamici issued the following press release on the development.

“The Trump Administration is finally releasing billions of dollars in education grant funding that schools expected to receive on July 1st, weeks after I joined Rep. McBath and Ranking Member Scott in demanding the administration disperse the funding to schools. Although it is a positive step that the administration is no longer holding up these funds, damage has already been done as schools have navigated more than three weeks of budget uncertainty. The administration must commit to releasing all congressionally-authorized funding immediately.”

Hogue said the college had been in communication with the offices of both Bonamici and Senator Jeff Merkley since the funds’ initial holdup.

“We’ve been trying to stay patient knowing this was a possibility, and it’s good to know that the funds sound like they’re going to be released,” Hogue said. “It’s the reality that a lot of public institutions and education specifically, (their) traditional funding streams are under review. We just try to be both strategic and patient. A lot of us are trying to figure this out on the fly because it’s something we’ve never experienced before.”