Welcome back for another edition of The First 100 Days, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of news from the Hill to the Oval Office. I’m your host, Katherine Knott, IHE’s news editor.
And it’s Day 102 of the second Trump administration. We’ve come a long way since Jan. 20 and those first weeks when the president took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs and tried to freeze all federal grants.
As regular readers of this newsletter know, much has happened in the last 100 days as we learned how President Trump planned to fulfill his campaign promises and reshape higher education and the federal government. Trump has upended norms and created much uncertainty and chaos for colleges and students. It’s clear that he’s just getting going, but he might face more pushback from the sector now. In recent weeks, we’ve seen higher education leaders show more signs that they’re ready to fight back by organizing to resist some of the attacks from the administration.
As my colleagues wrote in their recap of the past three months, “The last 100 days threw higher education into a tailspin. The next 100 could determine whether it can survive the storm.”
In Other News: A week after the Department of Homeland Security reversed course on terminating international students’ status in the SEVIS database, international students aren’t out of the woods. In fact, they may even be in a more precarious position after ICE changed its policy on SEVIS status terminations. The new policy, detailed in a court filing, would allow ICE to terminate a student’s SEVIS record if the State Department revokes their visa. This change, lawyers say, would make it easier for the government to deport students and leave those students with fewer legal protections.
And, in Congress, House Republicans detailed their plans to overhaul the student loan system. Their legislation would cut more than $330 billion over 10 years. Republicans want to end subsidized loans and the Grad PLUS program and then cap how much students can borrow, among many other changes. (The bill is part of the megabill for reconciliation, which is how Republicans are planning to pay for Trump’s priorities such as tax cuts.)
Supporters of the plan say the changes are necessary to address the student debt crisis and hold colleges accountable. But students’ advocates and Democrats argue it will put college out of reach for many students and penalize underresourced institutions.
On Tap for Next Week:
- The House Education and the Workforce Committee will have a hearing Wednesday on campus antisemitism. College leaders from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Haverford College; and DePaul University will be in the hot seat this time around.
- The Education Department will start collecting on defaulted loans Monday.
- We’re expecting more details about the other bills in the reconciliation package.
- And, this afternoon, we should get a summary of President Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026. Initial media reports say the budget will make deep cuts to nondefense programs, totaling $163 billion.
All right, that’s a wrap for Week 15. We’ll be back next week with our newly titled newsletter, “After the First 100 Days”... That’s right, we’re going to continue bringing you our weekly updates and analyses of what’s happening on the Hill and around D.C. And now that Congress is gearing up on reconciliation, what do you want to know about this process or the proposed legislation? Your questions might be answered in a future edition, so email me at katherine.knott@insidehighered.com.
As always, if news breaks this afternoon or over the weekend, which it probably will, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I plan to make a mint julep and watch the Kentucky Derby. Naturally, I’ll be rooting for Journalism. Have a good weekend!
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