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 many executive orders, research grant cancellations, and crackdowns on international students are changing the higher education landscape in the United States and globally.
In this interview, reporters from The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and The Chronicle of Higher Education go behind the headlines to offer their insights and analysis of Donald Trump's continuing impact on higher education—and what the future may hold for students, schools, and families.
Last week, President Donald Trump made the surprise announcement that his administration will require employers to pay a one-time $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa petitions. Previously, according to the American Immigration Council, these petitions cost between $2,000 and $5,000 apiece, depending on the size of the employer.
The regulation went into effect on September 21, 2025, and colleges and universities are just beginning to calculate what it could cost them. The short answer in many cases is “a lot.” At several major research universities, the total expense could surpass $10 million annually, assuming they continued to hire H-1B workers at the same rate as in the past.
Donald Trump has frequently stated that “tariff” is one of his favorite words and a policy that will contribute to American prosperity. Most mainstream economists disagree.
In addition to the likelihood of decreasing the country’s overall economic performance, tariffs will raise prices for colleges and families while also increasing income inequality. If we want a stronger economy with a skilled, educated workforce to advance U.S. leadership, tariffs are moving us in the wrong direction, argues Catharine Hill, managing director of Ithaka S+R and president emerita and professor emerita of economics at Vassar College, in this essay.
The admissions officer at the American Institute of Beauty, where Remiah Ward enrolled straight out of high school, convinced her that she would easily earn enough to repay the $10,000 she borrowed to attend. Ward had no way of knowing that stylists from her school earn $20,200 a year, on average, four years after graduating. Seven years later, her debt, plus interest, is still unpaid.
In July, Republicans in Congress pushed through policies aimed at ensuring that what happened to Ward wouldn’t happen to other Americans on the government’s dime; colleges whose graduates don’t earn at least as much as someone with a high school diploma will now risk losing access to federal student loans. However, thousands of schools such as the American Institute of Beauty managed to evade the regulations.
Student advocates say highly anticipated state guidance on how schools should follow a recent court ruling ending in-state tuition for undocumented students still doesn’t offer meaningful clarity on how to determine who still qualifies for the benefit.
Those advocates say clear guidance from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is urgently needed at a time when schools across the state, in a scramble to comply with the court ruling, have incorrectly told some students they can no longer pay in-state tuition.
Lectures are boring. Assignments are busy work. And all of that tuition is for this? When Justin Shaffer hears these kinds of complaints from students, he thinks they have a point. He also thinks there’s a good way for professors to address them.
For Shaffer, a professor in chemical and biological engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, the key is a simple—but often overlooked—insight about how students learn: They need to practice.
