A chronological list of major actions and announcements by the Trump administration that affect higher education institutions and students. Many of these actions face legal challenges. More about our Higher Ed Under Pressure project.
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June 2025
June 27, 2025
After the U.S. Justice Department had demanded that the president of the University of Virginia resign to help resolve an investigation into its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, James Ryan, the president, announces he is stepping down.
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June 4, 2025
The Trump administration issues a proclamation saying that it intends to prevent international students from entering the United States to study at Harvard University.
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June 4, 2025
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights notifies Columbia University’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, that the university is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore fails to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission.
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May 2025
May 28, 2025
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that the Trump administration would work to “aggressively revoke” visas of Chinese students and enhance scrutiny of all future applicants from China.
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May 22, 2025
The Trump administration informs Harvard University that it’s revoking its ability to enroll international students.
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May 5, 2025
The Education Secretary announces that Harvard University will receive no new federal grants until it meets a series of demands from the Trump administration on a range of issues.
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May 1, 2025
The Education Department announces that it’s streamlining the process through which colleges can change accreditors, even for some colleges that are at risk of losing accreditation from their current accreditor.
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April 2025
April 25, 2025
An attorney representing the Trump administration announces in a federal court hearing that it will reactivate the immigration status of thousands of foreign students after revoking it and terminating their records in a federal system. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the attorney says, is making the change while it develops a new policy that will provide a framework for record terminations.
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April 23, 2025
The Trump administration issues an executive order that seeks to overhaul the higher-education accreditation system, saying the administration intends to ensure “colleges and universities deliver high-quality, high-value education free from unlawful discrimination and ideological overreach.”
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April 23, 2025
The Trump administration issues an executive order warning that federal grants for universities could be revoked if they do not complete “full and timely disclosure of foreign funding.” The order doesn’t set new rules, but instead says that universities generally must “provide the American people with greater access to general information about foreign funding.”
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April 16, 2025
The Trump administration asks the Internal Revenue Service to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status.
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April 15, 2025
The Trump administration announces it is freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and contracts to Harvard University after Harvard said it would not bend to a list of demands the administration made in an April 11 letter. Those demands included broad government and leadership reforms at the university, changes to admissions policies, and audits of viewpoint of diversity on campus.
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April 11, 2025
U.S. Department of Energy announces that it will limit the indirect costs it supports for research grants to 15%. The average rate of indirect costs — which include facilities and staff — by grant recipients at colleges is more than 30 percent, the department said, and the cut would reduce funding by $405 million per year.
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April 8, 2025
Trump administration freezes more than $1 billion in grants to Cornell University and $790 million in grants to Northwestern University.
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April 3, 2025
The Trump administration announces that it intends to block $510 million in federal contracts and grants for Brown University.
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April 1, 2025
Princeton University says the Trump administration was moving to suspend several dozen of its federal grants, including at least some research support from the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and NASA.
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March 2025
March 31, 2025
Trump administration says it is reviewing about $9 billion in federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard, claiming that the school had allowed antisemitism to run unchecked on its campus.
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March 25, 2025
Department of Homeland Security detains a Tufts University graduate student who is a Turkish citizen and had a valid student visa. A spokesman for the department claimed that the student had “engaged in activities in support of” Hamas considered “grounds for visa issuance to be terminated.”
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March 25, 2025
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sends a cable to diplomats ordering them to scrutinize the social media content of some applicants for student and exchange visitor visas, saying that applicants can be denied if their behavior or actions show they bear “a hostile attitude toward U.S. citizens or U.S. culture.”
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March 21, 2025
President Trump announces in an Oval Office press conference that the $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio will be managed by the Small Business Administration — part of his move to dismantle the Department of Education.
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March 20, 2025
President Trump signs executive order seeking to shut down the Education Department. Closing it entirely would require Congress, but he asks Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle it.
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March 19, 2025
White House announces federal government is withholding $175 million from the University of Pennsylvania because of its past policies supporting transgender athletes.
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March 17, 2025
Department of Homeland Security detains a Georgetown University researcher. A government spokesperson said the fellow, in the U.S. on a student visa had been spreading “Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.”
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March 14, 2025
Education Department opens civil-rights investigations into 45 institutions who had worked with The Ph.D. Project, a nonprofit organization that encourages Black, Hispanic, and Native American students to pursue doctorates in business. It also opens investigations into six universities it says have awarded “impermissible race-based scholarships” and one university it said administered a program that “segregates students on the basis of race.”
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March 13, 2025
Three federal agencies send letter to Columbia University demanding substantial changes to student discipline and admissions — as well as closing down an academic department — before the government would discuss the reinstatement of $400 million in grants.
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March 11, 2025
The Education Department lays off roughly half of its 4,000 employees. The department says employees will be placed on administrative leave starting March 21, and that core functions, like distributing student loans and Pell Grants, will continue.
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March 10, 2025
Education Department warns 60 institutions that they could lose their federal funding if they do not protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic harassment on campus.
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March 8, 2025
ICE agents arrest a leader of the Palestinian protests at Columbia University, even though he holds a green card. President Trump has promised to deport international students participating in what he calls “pro-jihadist protests” on campuses.
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March 7, 2025
Trump administration announces it was canceling $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University because it said the university had failed to protect Jewish students.
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February 2025
February 14, 2025
Education Department issues “Dear Colleague” letter telling colleges they must end all race-conscious programs. It gives them 14-days to comply or risk their federal funding.
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February 7, 2025
The National Institute of Health announces that it will immediately cut percentage of indirect costs it reimburses for university grants to 15 percent. This would represent a cut of billions of dollars to biomedical research at hundreds of institutions.
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January 2025
January 29, 2025
President Trump signs executive order pushing colleges to combat anti-Semitism by monitoring international students
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January 21, 2025
President Trump signs executive order that bans diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across the federal government. The order states that agencies should seek to identify potential civil compliance investigations, including at universities with endowments over $1 billion.
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Higher Ed Under Pressure is a project of Open Campus, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to strengthening communities by holding higher education accountable.
