Higher Ed Policy and Budget Announcements

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Trump administration checks off many Project 2025 education goals

Dec 18, 2025 - Last year, Project 2025 was a conservative wish list. Months later, many of those wishes have become reality, including the goal of doing away with the Education Department.

Trump administration checks off many Project 2025 education goals

Trump administration appeals ruling in Harvard University case

Dec 19, 2025 - The federal government seeks to overturn a decision against its previous roughly $2.2 billion freeze on Harvard University's research funding.

Trump administration appeals ruling in Harvard University case

Texas universities deploy AI for course audits

Dec 15, 2025 - Records obtained by The Texas Tribune show how universities are using the technology to reshape curriculum under political pressure, raising concerns about academic freedom.

Texas universities deploy AI for course audits

UNC cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026

Dec 17, 2025 - The Center for European Studies, the African Studies Center, the Carolina Asia Center, the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, the Institute for the Study of the Americas and the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies are all slated to close, according to the impacted sources. These centers are the first of 14 total UNC centers and institutes to be cut.

UNC cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026

NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists

Dec 15, 2025 - Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities

NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists

Gov. Newsom Taps Universities for State AI Council

Dec 16, 2025 - A 30-member California Innovation Council will include executives and leaders from the UC system, the Brookings Institute, Stanford University and the California Chamber of Commerce, among others.

Gov. Newsom Taps Universities for State AI Council

DePaul University cuts nearly 8% of staff

Dec 16, 2025 - The Catholic institution is trying to plug an unplanned budget shortfall after a sharp decline of international students and other financial woes.

DePaul University cuts nearly 8% of staff

Without affirmative action, elite colleges are prioritizing economic diversity in admissions

Dec 11, 2025 - Some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges have been enrolling record numbers of low-income students as campuses prioritize economic diversity in the wake of a ban on affirmative action.

Without affirmative action, elite colleges are prioritizing economic diversity in admissions

Trump calls for federal policy framework preempting state AI laws

Dec 12, 2025 - The executive order comes as Big Tech pushes back on local AI regulation while pouring billions into building out AI infrastructure and deploying new products.

Trump calls for federal policy framework preempting state AI laws

What’s at stake as the Trump administration targets Harvard’s patents?

Dec 15, 2025 - Legal experts are watching whether the federal government will take the unprecedented step of seizing patents from federally funded research.

What’s at stake as the Trump administration targets Harvard’s patents?

College costs grew 3.6% in fiscal 2025, HEPI shows

Dec 12, 2025 - Faculty salaries rose 4.3%, the highest recorded rate since the Higher Education Price Index began tracking inflation in the category in 1998.

College costs grew 3.6% in fiscal 2025, HEPI shows

NIH shut out hundreds of young scientists from funding to start their own labs

Dec 8, 2025 - The MOSAIC program was terminated because it was seen as running afoul of Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI initiatives.

NIH shut out hundreds of young scientists from funding to start their own labs

FY26 Appropriations Update: Senate Appropriators Provide Flat Funding for DOE Office of Science While ASCR Gets an Increase

Dec 11, 2025 - Analysis of the Fiscal Year 2026 Senate Appropriations Committee’s Energy and Water legislation.

FY26 Appropriations Update: Senate Appropriators Provide Flat Funding for DOE Office of Science While ASCR Gets an Increase

EEOC opens claims process in $21M Columbia University settlement

Dec 10, 2025 - The agency alleged the university engaged in a pattern or practice of harassment against Jewish employees since at least Oct. 7, 2023.

EEOC opens claims process in $21M Columbia University settlement

Wisconsin public universities could start shedding programs more rapidly

Dec 10, 2025 - A committee developed a new metric based on enrollment that could increase the number of degrees that get flagged for review.

Wisconsin public universities could start shedding programs more rapidly

Oklahoma regents vote to cut 41 ‘low-producing’ academic programs

Dec 8, 2025 - The state coordinating board also moved to suspend another 21 programs across Oklahoma's public institutions.

Oklahoma regents vote to cut 41 ‘low-producing’ academic programs

Harvard Departments Brace for Teaching Fellow Shortage After Ph.D. Cuts

Dec 4, 2025 - Harvard’s deep cuts to PhD admissions are on track to leave undergraduate courses short of teaching fellows within two years, a looming squeeze already pushing departments to prepare contingency plans.

Harvard Departments Brace for Teaching Fellow Shortage After Ph.D. Cuts

Yale expects layoffs as leaders brace for $300M in endowment taxes

Dec 5, 2025 - The Ivy League institution’s tax bill starting next year will be higher than what it spends on student aid, university officials said.

Yale expects layoffs as leaders brace for $300M in endowment taxes

FY26 Appropriations Update: House Appropriators Propose Difficult Budget Cuts for NSF, NIST, and NASA

Dec 4, 2025 - Analysis of the Fiscal Year 2026 House Appropriations Committee’s Commerce, Justice, Science legislation.

FY26 Appropriations Update: House Appropriators Propose Difficult Budget Cuts for NSF, NIST, and NASA

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine

Dec 2, 2025 - A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine

Here’s what to know about Calvin University’s 12.5% faculty reduction, program cuts

Dec 2, 2025 - The cuts were described in a letter as honoring Calvin’s “distinctive mission” and ensuring long-term sustainability.

Here’s what to know about Calvin University’s 12.5% faculty reduction, program cuts

Texas Tech System restricts race and gender teaching

Dec 1, 2025 - Tech, now the second Texas public university system to add similar teaching restrictions, had earlier directed faculty to follow state and federal guidance recognizing only two sexes.

Texas Tech System restricts race and gender teaching

White House Announces Genesis Mission with the Aim to Accelerate Scientific Discovery through AI

Dec 1, 2025 - This new effort is described as a “whole-of-government approach” creating, “a national discovery platform that unites the world’s most powerful supercomputers, AI systems, and emerging quantum technologies with the nation’s most advanced scientific instruments.”

White House Announces Genesis Mission with the Aim to Accelerate Scientific Discovery through AI

University of Lynchburg offers faculty buyouts to address finances

Dec 1, 2025 - An administrator says no programs will be cut, and there's not a target figure for how faculty accept the offer.

University of Lynchburg offers faculty buyouts to address finances

What’s in Northwestern University’s deal with the Trump administration?

Dec 1, 2025 - The Illinois institution agreed to pay the federal government $75 million over three years and make key policy changes to have research funding restored.

What’s in Northwestern University’s deal with the Trump administration?

University of Chicago nearly halves its budget deficit to $160M

Dec 1, 2025 - Revenue growth outpaced cost increases as the private nonprofit aims for a balanced budget by the decade’s end.

University of Chicago nearly halves its budget deficit to $160M

How Trump 2.0 upended education research and statistics in one year

Dec 1, 2025 - Decades of carefully built infrastructure aimed at improving and tracking how American children learn vanished in an ideological attack

How Trump 2.0 upended education research and statistics in one year

Economic Data Dashboards Flourish to Track the Trump Effect

Nov 28, 2025 - Watch groups are on the alert for anything out of the ordinary in the official US government data.

Economic Data Dashboards Flourish to Track the Trump Effect

Trump’s AI ‘Genesis Mission’: what are the risks and opportunities?

Nov 26, 2025 - National laboratories have been instructed to broaden access to their data sets to accelerate research as part of the federal government’s AI platform. But who stands to benefit?

Trump’s AI ‘Genesis Mission’: what are the risks and opportunities?

Indiana Universities must explain how new degrees promote American values

Nov 21, 2025 - The new degree proposal form issued by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education asks how programs cultivate "commitment to the core values of American society."

Indiana Universities must explain how new degrees promote American values