Headlines in Higher Ed: Week of July 7th, 2025
Sweeping bill reshapes higher ed, court upholds social media checks, and secret videos spark firings
The Future of Higher Education Under Trump’s New Law
Over the Fourth of July holiday, President Trump signed a new law called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that brings major changes to how students and families pay for college. The law limits how much parents and graduate students can borrow from the government, removes certain types of federal student loans, and ties college funding to how much graduates earn. It also cuts back several current repayment options. For example, popular income-driven repayment plans like SAVE and PAYE will be phased out starting in 2026, replaced by fewer, less flexible plans. That means future borrowers might have to make higher monthly payments or stay in repayment much longer—sometimes up to 30 years. Experts say this could make student debt harder to manage and push some people to skip college altogether, especially those from low-income or minority families.
Mike Pierce, Executive Director of the Student Borrower Protection Center
The bill does expand Pell Grants to cover short-term job training programs, but it also eliminates key protections for students, like easier loan forgiveness for victims of fraud. Many worry that students will be forced into riskier private loans or struggle with unaffordable payments. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, for people who work for nonprofits or in government, was kept in place for now, but the Trump administration is working on an overhaul to grant control over this and other regulations to the Education Department. While Republican leaders call the bill a victory that will make colleges more accountable and reduce government spending, critics say it favors the wealthy and could raise costs for everyday families. To help navigate the massive 870-page legislation, concerned students and parents can review a summary of specific student loan changes, which take effect July 2026, here.
Rapid Recap
🧊 $6B Public School Freeze In other Trump moves, the administration has frozen over $6 billion in federal funding for K–12 public schools - cutting off support for reading programs, after-school services, and English learners, especially in states like California and Texas.
🤝 Penn Regains Federal Funding After settling to Trump’s demands, such as erasing their transgender athlete’s records, the University of Pennsylvania recovered $175 million in funding.
✂ Indiana Public Colleges Slash 400+ Degree Programs In response to a new state law requiring minimum graduate numbers, nearly 1 in 5 programs have been merged or cut out entirely.
👺Columbia Pays $9M for Faking Its Way to #2 Though Columbia denied wrongdoing, it settled a 2022 student lawsuit over submitting false data to U.S. News to boost its ranking and withdrew from the rankings in 2023 after dropping to No. 18.
👩🏾⚖️Court Backs Social Media Checks for Student Visas A recent court decision allows the U.S. government to continue a policy that requires international students applying for visas to share their social media accounts with the State Department. Go on…
Court Backs Social Media Checks for Student Visas
Officials can deny visas if they see any posts that seem “hostile” to the U.S., even if the student hasn’t broken any laws. Many college leaders and international student advocates are worried this kind of rule will delay applicant approvals and discourage students from other countries from coming to study in the U.S. with the school year approaching fast. At the same time, a new report from Moody’s, which evaluates the financial stability of organizations, warns that some colleges could face serious problems if fewer international students enroll. These students often pay full tuition, and many schools rely on that income, especially the 11% of U.S. schools where foreign visa students make up over 20% of the student body. With a looming “enrollment cliff” in coming years, colleges may find it harder to make up the difference, putting their budgets at risk.
Undercover Videos Lead to Firings at Public Universities
A conservative group called Accuracy in Media (AIM) has released a series of covert videos showing staff at public universities in North Carolina and Florida allegedly circumventing state restrictions on DEI programs. Filmed with hidden cameras, the footage captures university employees speaking candidly about continuing DEI-related initiatives under alternative names or frameworks. At least three employees shown in the videos are no longer employed by their institutions (UNC Charlotte, UNC Asheville, Western Carolina University), though the schools claim the individuals had no authority over policy and were not speaking officially. Other targeted universities include UNC Wilmington, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida, but those employees remain in their positions for now. AIM has indicated it will release additional footage.
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