For America’s colleges and universities and the students they serve, the four years of Donald Trump’s first term as president were fraught, defined by threats to international students, allegations of “radical left indoctrination,” free speech controversies and far-reaching attacks on fundamental institutional values such as diversity.
Since Trump left office in 2021, universities have continued to grapple with the legacy of his term and the movement it spawned. His four years in office helped to pave the way for the Supreme Court’s decision last summer banning race-conscious admissions. A controversial executive order spurred a cascade of state laws banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies. Meanwhile, the rise of MAGA Republicanism spawned supercharged culture wars, entangling campuses and prompting some state officials to get increasingly involved in how public universities are run and what’s taught in classrooms.
Now, Trump is back and seeking another four years in the White House, and higher education could be in for greater scrutiny and heightened pressure if he wins. Higher education wasn’t high on Trump’s priority list the first time around, but an increasing anti–higher education sentiment among Republicans and sectors of the public has shifted the political winds. That could open the door to more radical policy options.
Trump has already vowed to “fire” accreditors and reclaim colleges from the “radical left,” called for the creation of a free national online university paid for by taxes on wealthy colleges, threatened to deport campus protesters and backed extending green cards to college graduates.
In a second term, Trump would also have a sharp critic of higher education as his No. 2. His pick for vice president, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, has been an unsparing critic of universities, which he’s characterized as being dedicated to “deceit and lies, not to the truth” and controlled by “left-wing foundations.”
Brendan Cantwell, a professor of education at Michigan State University, sees a systematic approach in Trump’s agenda and other conservative plans for higher education. They want to make “deep, structural changes,” he said, and “convert the rhetoric about higher education that we’ve seen on the political right into policy.”
“I see the possibility of one or more of these levers being used to fundamentally remake the higher education sector as we know it,” Cantwell said. “Federal policy is what facilitated the creation of the higher education sector that we know today, and it’s the federal government that can undo it.”
“There’s a good chance that higher ed could be front and center because it has made itself a target of populist frustration,” said Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies for the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
Experts generally expect that rolling back policies put in place by the Biden administration and overhauling accreditation to allow alternative providers of college credentials to access federal financial aid would be among the first priorities for the Trump administration.
On the chopping block would likely be new Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students, along with Biden’s new income-driven repayment program that lowered monthly payments for millions of borrowers. A second Trump administration could also seek to scrutinize foreign funds that flow to colleges.
While the first Trump administration was considered disorganized and chaotic, this time around, the Trump team will be more prepared to govern. To assist in that effort, the conservative Heritage Foundation has spearheaded an effort known as Project 2025 to recruit and train employees to serve in the administration and provide a blueprint to radically reshape the federal government, higher education policy included.