This study examined the effects of racism-related stress on the academic and psychological factors affecting the success of 151 Black and Latino/a college students enrolled at several predominantly White universities in the northeastern United States. Institutional racism-related stress was negatively correlated with extrinsic motivation but positively correlated with intrinsic motivation. Findings also indicated that some racial differences were found between the level of amotivation that Black and Latino/a college students who report high levels of institutional racism-related stress experience. Implications of these results for research and practice within student affairs are explored. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)