Rising tuition and uncertainty about AI’s impact on entry-level jobs are making it harder for families to judge the value of a college degree.

TikTok, lower tuition, and a search for new campus culture are fueling a surge of students from the North heading south.

President Trump defended enrolling Chinese students at U.S. universities during a Fox News interview, clashing with host Laura Ingraham over security concerns. His remarks came as tensions with France and debates over international student policies continue.

A federal judge restored $2 billion in research funding for Harvard, ruling the Trump administration’s freeze was unlawful and politically motivated. The White House said it will immediately appeal, keeping other universities on edge.

A few university presidents, including Wesleyan’s Michael S. Roth and Mount Holyoke’s Danielle Holley, are openly challenging the Trump administration’s push against diversity programs, transgender athletes and campus protests, even as many schools settle. Most institutions have stayed silent.

In exchange for scaling back certain diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Brown will have its frozen Department of Health and Human Services grants restored, regain eligibility for future funding, and see all federal investigations closed, according to a White House official.

Under the terms of the deal to resolve several federal probes into allegations that it had violated anti-discrimination laws, Columbia did not admit to wrongdoing.

At Mount Holyoke College, a liberal arts school some 90 miles west of Boston, administrators have few answers so far for their prospective international students who are no longer certain they will be allowed to study in the U.S.