Adrianne is a Senior Admissions Counselor and TV/film director, producer, writer, and actress currently based in LA. She uses her experience in multiple disciplines to help students achieve their personal and academic goals.
In the nearly three months since Trump was inaugurated, there have been many changes in the world of higher education. In this post, we’ll examine what is different in college admissions under the new Trump Administration and what this could mean for future college applicants.
Education, and especially the world of college admissions, has become a hotbed of discussion in the past few years in the wake of groundbreaking legislation and political debates. From Biden’s student loan forgiveness policies to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action to now the potential elimination of the Department of Education, it’s become clear that the field of education has significantly changed (and continues to change) over the years as different administrations have entered the White House — and the current Trump administration is no exception.
In this blog post, we’ll break down the Trump administration’s policies in education and the effects they’ve already had on college admissions processes and the country’s top educational institutions.
Table of Contents
Executive Orders and Policy Changes
The Trump administration was swift in making sweeping changes to the policies established both during the previous administration and long before. Below are some of the pending and proposed changes in the education space by Project 2025, the 180-day playbook that the Administration is currently instituting, as well as the policy changes and ramifications that have already taken place.
Potential Elimination of the Department of Education
On March 20th, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order ordering the dismantling of the Department of Education, although he still needs congressional approval before the move is finalized. This is not a surprise, given the decades-long effort of the Republican Party — fueled by the work of the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation and first unsuccessfully attempted by President Reagan in 1983 — to abolish the Education Department.
It’s unclear what the administration plans to do if the Department of Education is eliminated, especially for its existing financial aid programs, enforcement of students’ rights, and data collection procedures. It’s possible the Treasury Department will oversee the government’s $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio, but Trump has threatened to freeze all federal grants and loans, although a judge has since blocked the freeze.
Dismantling DEI Initiatives
One of the most prevalent news items that has been circulated is Trump’s repeal of diversity initiatives, not only at the Department of Education but across the federal government. Administration officials have doubled down when it comes to the repeal of race-based affirmative action in admissions, scholarships, housing, and campus programming.
Educational institutions risk the loss of federal funding if they do not fully comply, seeing as the administration has launched federal investigations into the admissions practices and financial aid policies at over 50 U.S. colleges and universities across the country. Applicants and their families would be wise to stay abreast of changes to scholarships and financial aid at the schools on their college list, race-based or otherwise, as the landscape is constantly changing on a week-to-week basis.
Immigration Policies Affecting International Students
The Trump administration’s immigration policies have affected a wide swath of the immigrant community, especially international students who are here on student visas. There have been instances of international students’ visas being revoked without clear explanations, and it is harder for students applying for visas, especially those who are outspoken about their anti-Trump political sentiments on social media, to get approved. There has even been a Columbia student and legal U.S. resident, Mahmoud Khalil, whose visa was revoked simply because of his pro-Palestinian activism, which is currently being challenged in court. It is an extremely concerning time for all international students, but particularly those whose views do not directly align with those of the administration, since their academic freedom has come directly under fire.
Changes to Students’ Civil Rights
Title IX: Changing Definitions and Stricter Regulations
The Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education has also announced the implementation of the 2020 Title IX regulations pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. While these changes have widely been described as a rollback of the pre-2020 regulations, Harvard University’s Title IX Coordinator Nicole Merrill clarified the following for The Harvard Gazette:
“It’s not so much an expansion of what was covered, but really a clarification on the application of Title IX… This is not a rollback or reverting to what the regulations used to be five years ago. It’s more of a slide and a pivot.
For example, prior to the 2020 regulation change, the definition of what constituted sexual harassment was, in part, unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that was severe, persistent, or pervasive, based on the totality of the circumstances.
In 2020, the definition for what constitutes sexual harassment shifted, in part, to unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that was severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive.”
Still, the regulations may have negative implications for survivors of sexual assault, according to critics. Schools are no longer required to address off-campus incidents and/or those that occurred outside of university programs. These new rules also limit the role of coordinators and allow for more discretion in disciplinary proceedings, which could lessen the protections for survivors and make it increasingly difficult for those pursuing justice.
Threats to LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and ESL Students & Students with Disabilities
Even though the Education Department hasn’t officially been dismantled, its resources have been significantly reduced, especially in the Office of Civil Rights. The termination of all staff in over half of the regional offices for the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights will make it harder for students at education institutions to access the protections granted to them by Title IX and other provisions. According to the ACLU, this includes protection from “uneven and unfair targeting of students of color and students with disabilities for school discipline, inequitable access to advanced coursework, the refusal to provide accommodations to students with disabilities, and discrimination against students with limited English proficiency or English learner status to persist unchecked.”
This also could affect campus resources available to these communities, such as LGBTQ+ and cultural resource centers, gender-neutral restrooms for transgender students, and mentorship programs for BIPOC students, particularly at public universities in more conservative parts of the country. For students with disabilities, even though there are still certain protections for students under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the ongoing push against “identity-based accommodations” may provide a justification for universities to at least scale back on some of the resources they have previously provided under Obama-Era guidelines.
Impact on Federal Research Funding
As touched on above, there have been significant cuts to federal funding available to educational institutions, especially those that violate the administration’s policies, especially its DEI rollback. What it means to violate those policies can be nebulous, as demonstrated by the recent case of Columbia University — the school was threatened with the loss of $400 million in grants and funding because of alleged antisemitism connected with Columbia’s allowance of pro-Palestinian protests. Even just recently, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) froze about $250 million in research grants for Columbia University, even though the school has yielded to the administration’s demands after the antisemitism claims.
According to an analysis done by the Associated Press, the 100 education institutions under investigation by the administration received over $33 billion in federal revenue during the 2022-2023 academic year, with 10-13% of their revenue coming from federal contracts or research funding. Johns Hopkins is a school that is particularly at risk, with nearly 40% of its revenue coming from federal funding to fund invaluable contributions to medical research (as well as defense research that benefits the U.S. military).
The research done in the scientific and medical fields in the U.S. is deeply intertwined with the work done at American colleges and universities, and now education institutions are having to choose between their support of free speech on campus (or promoting harmful ideologies and illegal discrimination, according to the administration) and retaining this crucial funding to keep their research programs going.
Emphasis on Vocational and Technical Education
A smaller but still important change to note in this administration’s views on education is an emphasis on vocational and technical education. During Trump’s first term in office, the President signed the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act in 2018, which reauthorized the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 and was designed to modernize and enhance career and technical education (CTE) programs.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has also previously called for increasing investments in tech vocational programs, such as software development bootcamps, and the ability to use Pell Grants for such programs, but she has not since clarified how this would be affected by the dismantling of the Education Department. Even though this wouldn’t necessarily directly affect students applying to traditional colleges and universities, it is further proof of the administration’s attempt to take aim at colleges and universities that foster a liberal arts-focused education.
Do you need assistance with navigating this ever-changing college admissions landscape? Reach out to us today to schedule a free consultation!
