dotEDU Live: What the Education Department Layoffs Mean for Colleges and Universities
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
Release Date: 03/20/2025
What Will It Take to Rebuild Trust in Higher Education?
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
Yale University’s Committee on Trust in Higher Education spent a year examining the forces behind declining public confidence in colleges and universities and came back with 20 recommendations for how institutions can respond. Julia Adams, cochair of the committee, walks us through the findings and what they might mean for campuses nationwide. Here are links to the the report and the policy issues the hosts discuss: Report of the Yale Committee on Trust in Higher Education (PDF)...
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Continuing the College Access Conversation
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
The landscape for federal TRIO programs has shifted dramatically since we talked about it in January. The Department of Education (ED) has issued new grant proposals that would cut the number of programs by more than half and fundamentally redirect TRIO away from its mission of college access. We welcomed back Kimberly Jones, president of the Council for Opportunity in Education, to walk us through what’s at stake for these programs and the students they serve. The hosts also give the latest updates on ED's negotiated rulemaking. Links: U.S. Department of Education Issues...
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Student Voting Is Getting Harder. Now What?
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
Colleges have spent years building systems to help students vote. Now a mix of federal guidance, investigations, and state-level changes is putting new pressure on that work. ACE General Counsel Peter McDonough joins us to explain where the legal lines are and where uncertainty is creating risk. But first, the hosts discuss the recent higher education policy developments from the past few weeks, from the Trump administration's FY 2027 budget proposal to the Education Department's draft rule on accreditation.
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Workforce Pell, Professional Degrees, and a Complicated Spring in Washington
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
The hosts are joined by ACE’s Emmanual Guillory to break down key federal rulemaking shaping student aid. The conversation focuses on the latest developments in graduate loan limits, new rules for Workforce Pell and what it will take for institutions to participate, and the Department of Education’s expanded IPEDS data collection.
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dotEDU Live at ACEx2026
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
At ACEx2026 in Washington, DC, the dotEDU team recorded a special live episode during a session at the ACE Annual Meeting. Instead of the usual format, hosts Mushtaq Gunja, Sarah Spreitzer, and Jon Fansmith took turns posing questions to each other about the direction of federal higher education policy in 2026: how it may differ from the first year of President Trump’s second term, what the year’s major policy stories could be, where their lobbying efforts have and have not gained traction, and how to advocate effectively for colleges and universities in a contentious environment. The...
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A Funding Deal, the Pell Shortfall, and New Federal Pressure on Campuses
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
The hosts run a rapid-fire policy lightning round on the biggest higher ed issues right now, from federal funding and a looming Pell shortfall to new graduate loan limits. They also dig into two fast-moving flashpoints: the Education Department’s scrutiny of a long-running student voting study and the administration’s escalating actions aimed at Harvard, including potential impacts on service members’ education benefits. Plus, an update on Sarah's favorite topic, Section 117 foreign gift reporting. Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show: Appropriations Inside...
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What the Headlines Miss About Higher Ed: A Conversation with Kirk Carapezza
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
The national conversation about higher education shifted dramatically in 2025. In this episode recorded in Boston in December, Jon Fansmith and Mushtaq Gunja talk with GBH News correspondent Kirk Carapezza about the reporting landscape and the pressures facing colleges beyond the headlines. Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show: GBH | Dec. 2, 2025 GBH | Oct. 29, 2025 GBH | Sept. 24, 2025 On Campus | Aug. 3, 2016
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What the Future Holds for Federal TRIO Programs
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
Questions about the future of federal TRIO programs—academic and support services for low-income, first-generation, and disabled students—come up more than almost any other topic on the podcast. We're joined this week by Kimberly Jones, president of the Council for Opportunity in Education, for a conversation about where TRIO stands and what may be ahead. We begin with some speculation on whether or not we're heading toward a partial government shutdown, and the latest on the Department of Education's moves on accreditation. Here are some of the links and references from this week’s...
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What Counts as a Professional Degree in 2026?
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
Valerie Fuller, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, visited the podcast to talk about how new federal loan limits will change what graduate students can borrow and why nursing may no longer be considered a professional degree. The hosts also looked at the appropriations outlook on Capitol Hill, negotiations on rulemaking to implement the One Big Beautiful Bill, and more. Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show: Graduate Loan Limits Nov. 21, 2025 NAICU Washington Update | Dec. 19, 2025 Gallup | Jan. 12, 2026 Constitutionality of...
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The dotEDU Wrap Party for Policy Nerds
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
In this final episode of 2025, hosts Mushtaq Gunja, Sarah Spreitzer, and Jon Fansmith spend the hour taking questions on the policy shifts and challenges campuses are watching most closely and the developments expected to matter early in 2026. Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show: Lucy Dacus and Hozier, Jason Isbell, (Netflix)
info_outlineThe latest episode of dotEDU Live unpacks the sweeping layoffs at the Department of Education and their implications for colleges and universities. Hosts Jon Fansmith, Sarah Spreitzer, and Mushtaq Gunja are joined by ACE President Ted Mitchell to break down the budget battle in Congress, the department’s restructuring, and the ripple effects on financial aid, student services, and institutional oversight.
The discussion also covers the Trump administration’s ongoing investigations into higher education institutions, including Title VI enforcement actions and DEI-related scrutiny, as well as the shifting landscape for federal grant funding.
Send suggestions, links, and questions to @ACEducation on X or Bluesky or email podcast@acenet.edu. Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show:
Education Department Cuts Half Its Staff as Trump Vows to Wind the Agency Down
The Associated Press | March 11, 2025
Statement by ACE President Ted Mitchell on Significant Layoffs at the Department of Education
ACE | March 11, 2025
U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Sends Letters to 60 Universities Under Investigation for Antisemitic Discrimination and Harassment
Department of Education | March 10, 2025
Statement by ACE President Ted Mitchell Opposing the Trump Administration’s Cancellation of Grants and Contracts to Columbia University
ACE | March 10, 2025
Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness
White House | March 7, 2025
Office for Civil Rights Initiates Title VI Investigations into Institutions of Higher Education
Department of Education | March 14, 2025
OPINION: Here’s Why We Cannot Permit America’s Partnership with Higher Education to Weaken or Dissolve
By ACE President Ted Mitchell
The Hechinger Report | March 18, 2025
Trump Demands Major Changes in Columbia Discipline and Admissions Rules
The New York Times (sub. req.) | March 13, 2025
Susan Collins Announces Reinstatement of University of Maine System’s Paused USDA Funding
Maine Public | March 12, 2025