Higher education may be bound for a whirlwind of change over the next four years when President-elect Donald Trump assumes office next year. Trump’s aggressive stance on immigration has led some institutions and related organizations to begin issuing guidance to students ahead of his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Last week, the National College Attainment Network posted on its website advising students from mixed-status families to make a “considered decision” regarding whether to submit their FAFSA, which may expose their parents’ citizenship status. While data submitted to FAFSA (such as a parent’s social security number—or lack thereof) is technically protected by the Higher Education Act, the national nonprofit cannot determine at this time whether such information will be used against students’ parents.
“We’re going to have to ask each family to make a judgment call about whether or not they trust that their data will remain secure,” says Michelle Barton, managing director of program operations at Bottom Line, a college advising service for first-generation and low-income students. Barton helped K12 students file for FAFSA during the third round of beta testing. “We would never ask a student to do something that puts a family’s safety at risk.”
Trump has vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history and has stated that he’s willing to declare a national emergency surrounding illegal immigrants.
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Uncertainty surrounding Trump’s aim at immigration has led several colleges and universities to spare no risk regarding their international students. Quinnipiac University, University of Southern California, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Wesleyan University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology make up a handful of universities that have sent out directives to their students with F-1 and J-1 visas, urging them to return from winter break before inauguration in fear they won’t be allowed re-entry to the country.
In Trump’s first term as president in 2020, he enacted a series of executive mandates barring entry of foreign nationals from predominantly Muslim countries into the U.S. One of Trump’s core intentions heading into his second term is to deport “pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again.”
What change is higher education bracing for?
Colleges and university leaders and students can only speculate how Trump and his close allies will effect change in higher education until he enters office. However, one recent Supreme Court decision and suggestions from Project 2025 have helped us unveil what facets of the sector may be due for an overhaul. While Trump has publicly distanced himself from Project 2025, he has appointed several key architects of the 900-page manuscript to his Cabinet, Axios reports.
- Changes to the Department of Education: While many fear the Department of Education will be dismantled, the more likely outcome is that its Office of Civil Rights will be scaled down, District Administration reports.
- Title IX pushback: State Republican lawmakers have largely succeeded in repelling Biden’s most recent Title IX mandate. Trump’s presidency will most likely support their cause, reversing protections for LGBTQIA+ students and victims of sexual assault.
- Slashing student loan forgiveness: Like Title IX, President Joe Biden’s vision for student loan forgiveness has been largely unsupported by Republican lawmakers. Trump, alongside Department of Education pick Linda McMahon, has already begun discussing rolling back several Biden-era loan initiatives, Politico reports.
