College and university stakeholders are ill-equipped for recent changes enacted by the Trump administration, which has pursued policy initiatives that entirely lack precedence, according to last week’s webinar hosted by the American Council on Education.
The Trump administration’s revocation of hundreds of student visas because of alleged pro-Palestinian activism has dumbfounded institutions’ international offices, said Sarah Spreitzer, vice president of government relations at ACE.
“There’s a lot we don’t know right now, but we’re concerned because it’s causing panic among our international students, and I don’t think our institutions really understand how to best advise those students because this is all happening in real-time.”
Institutions are not always informed when visas are canceled. Students may receive a notification from the State Department with few details and no option to appeal.
Since the webinar concluded, colleges and universities including the University of Michigan, Harvard and Stanford have begun confirming how many visas have been revoked. The University of Utah reported one of the highest numbers of students affected—18, according to KSL.
“This is not anything that our international offices or officers are ready for,” Spreitzer said.
Increasing state responsibility
While the Trump administration has promised to preserve federal financial aid programs as the Department of Education downsizes, giving more control to the states could create massive administrative disruptions, panelists said.
For example, Return To Title IV (R2T4) calculations—which determine the amount of money that must be returned if a financial aid recipient prematurely withdraws from an institution—require extensive staff knowledge and specialized skills, said Mushtaq Gunja, senior vice president at ACE.
“There’s a reason why we do it at the federal level and not make 50 states try to figure that all out for themselves.”
Not only is it complicated, but the work required to do R2T4, make aid eligibility requirements and complete other regulatory work requires staffing, said Jonathan Fansmith, assistant vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education. “The states don’t want to take up the funding and administrative obligations. They do not want to take on expanded roles in managing these programs.”
Suspending institutional funding
Some of the country’s most prominent colleges and universities have lost millions in federal funding over their DEI programs, transgender athletes and responses to anti-Semitism. Fansmith noted that Princeton University’s loss of federal contracts seems most likely tied to an op-ed its president wrote regarding the Trump administration.
“What the administration is doing is not legal,” Fansmith said. “You cannot simply suspend funding for institutions because you don’t like them or you don’t like something you have perceived they have done. There are very clear processes for which funding for campuses is suspended or terminated [and] none of those have gone forward here.”
Columbia University complied with the administration’s list of policy revisions to potentially reestablish funding.
Meanwhile, further cuts in recent months have resulted in the National Science Foundation distributing only half of what it usually does for colleges engaged in research. The drastic reduction will potentially create massive layoffs across Northwestern University, WBEZ Chicago reports
How college leaders can fight back against Trump
Higher ed leaders are preparing for a political showdown ahead of state budget deliberations for fiscal year 2026. Fansmith advised higher ed stakeholders and lobbyists to focus on how funding cuts affect the local economy.
“There may be partisan or political views about higher education, but what your representatives at the state and federal level care about is if jobs are being lost. They need to know, and that is the single strongest avenue right now for at least trying to maintain stability in federal operations.”
