Lumina Foundation is working to increase the share of adults in the U.S. labor force with college degrees or other credentials of value leading to economic prosperity.
The Trump administration’s freeze on large swaths of federal funding to colleges like Harvard and Columbia Universities has prompted higher education to ponder a world where those dollars can’t be counted on. But presidents of colleges that swear off such funding already live in that world: They don’t have to worry about any administration—Republican or Democratic—pulling the rug out from under them.
They also know that making the switch from taking federal funds to not taking any would be nearly impossible—not only because of the lost revenue, but because it would require a complete rethinking of how to operate.
The Trump administration’s decision to block billions of dollars in research money to certain colleges is forcing administrators and their fundraising teams to scrounge for cash. As schools across the country contemplate layoffs, lab shutdowns, and other drastic steps, they are weighing how much the gaps can be plugged by private philanthropy—and how pointedly political their pleas for donations ought to be.
Some are wagering that the financial rewards of trying to leverage donors’ concerns about the federal cuts will outweigh the risk of antagonizing the White House.
As the now-former president of the University of Virginia, James Ryan was a champion of maintaining diversity, and he acknowledged having to resign against his will because the Trump administration did not believe he went far enough in dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives aimed at making all students feel included.
Many college presidents have been reluctant to speak out openly in opposition to President Trump, but not Patricia McGuire, the longtime president of Trinity Washington University. Ryan’s resignation, she says, “lays bare once more the intent of the Trump administration to silence the leadership of American higher education and to debilitate its leading institutions so that the regime can continue its campaign to deconstruct our democracy without opposition."
Parents trying to help their children pay for college may soon find themselves struggling to navigate the updated federal student loan rules. The massive overhaul of student loans in the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" sets new caps on Parent PLUS Loans while also cutting off access to affordable income-driven repayment plans.
These changes, along with no changes to make college easier to afford for undergraduates, simply put pressure on parents who are already struggling to help their children pay for college.
With federal student loan application completions plummeting and college affordability slipping further out of reach, Arizona education advocates are joining a national chorus demanding Congress center student success—not just access—in higher education reform.
A coalition of more than 30 organizations, including UnidosUS, The Hope Center, uAspire, and the Institute for College Access & Success, has delivered a joint letter to congressional leaders urging immediate investments in Pell Grants, student basic needs, and financial aid infrastructure.
Parking permits. Desk space. Access cards. Ordered to bring back roughly 1,300 laid-off workers, the U.S. Department of Education instead has spent weeks ostensibly working on the logistics. Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to decide they don’t have to restore those jobs after all.
The legal argument over the job status of Education Department workers is testing the extent to which President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon can reshape the federal bureaucracy without congressional approval. Employees, meanwhile, remain in limbo, getting paid for jobs they aren’t allowed to perform.
.jpg?upscale=true&width=500&upscale=true&name=istockphoto-2195702653-612x612%20(1).jpg)
.jpeg?upscale=true&width=500&upscale=true&name=download%20(81).jpeg)
.jpeg?upscale=true&width=500&upscale=true&name=download%20(80).jpeg)
