Welcome back to After 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.
It’s Day 151 of the second Trump administration. Visa interviews are back on, but the State Department is vetting applicants’ social media for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.” And the Energy Department is trying to fast-track a ban on transgender athletes playing on teams that align with their gender at colleges that receive money from the agency.
But let’s talk about research funding and indirect costs, because higher ed groups are working on a plan they want the government to adopt via either law or regulation. Right now, they have two proposed models but are working to settle on one option. You can read more about the options in my story. This effort comes after the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies sought to cap reimbursements for costs indirectly related to research at 15 percent. Remember that college leaders had warned that the cap would disrupt research and force them to lay off workers.
The higher ed groups are planning to send their final proposal to the government at the end of this month, and they are urging the research community to unify behind one approach, cautioning that the government is likely to change the funding formula with or without their input.
“Unfortunately, something is going to change,” said Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities. “Significant division in the research community is going to kill us.”
Reconciliation Watch:
- We got the Senate’s endowment tax plan this week, and the proposed endowment tax rates are lower than the House’s plan, so it’s less direct for colleges. But raising the tax from 1.4 percent to either 4 percent or 8 percent, depending on the per-student value of a college’s endowment, would be a significant change for colleges.
- Congress is poised to expand the Pell Grant to short-term credential programs—a top policy priority for community colleges and others. But the latest plan would open the grant to unaccredited programs, raising concerns that it could allow a flood of unvetted programs receiving federal funds to enroll vulnerable students.
- Next steps? The Senate parliamentarian is starting to determine whether all the provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill comply with the reconciliation rules. This process, known as the “Byrd bath,” should wrap up in the middle of next week.
On Tap for Next Week:
- The Senate HELP Committee will vote Thursday on a batch of nominees for the Education Department, including Kimberly Richey, who is in line to take over the Office for Civil Rights. Read more about her confirmation here.
- The House Education and Workforce Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday about postsecondary education at the Bureau of Indian Education.
- Then, on Thursday, a House committee will review its spending plan for the Interior Department. Trump proposed deep cuts to tribal colleges, so we’re watching that closely.
That’s it for Week 22. As always, when news breaks this afternoon or over the weekend, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I’ll be enjoying a long weekend. Have a good weekend!
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