What Trump's Budget Outline Would Mean for Higher Ed
The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 16, 2017
President Trump laid out the spending priorities for his administration on Thursday, releasing a budget "blueprint" that includes a $9-billion cut for the U.S. Department of Education, more than 13 percent, as well as decreases at several agencies that provide money for academic research, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The administration’s outline also calls for eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The deep reductions in discretionary spending fall on nearly every executive agency, in order to offset more than $50 billion in increases for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs.
The proposed cuts at the Education Department include plans to ax several programs that aid primarily low-income and minority students, while increasing spending for school-choice programs in elementary and secondary education. Although the administration recommends largely preserving the existing Pell Grant program — the primary form of federal aid for needy students — it may sacrifice the possibility of year-round grants that many in Congress and higher education have called for.