dotEDU Live: What the Senate Reconciliation Bill Gets (Mostly) Wrong
dotEDU: Higher Education Policy Explained
Release Date: 06/27/2025
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_outlineHosts Jon Fansmith, Sarah Spreitzer, and Mushtaq Gunja dig into the Senate’s reconciliation bill and what it means for colleges and students—student loan limits, endowment taxes, accountability rules, and more. They also discuss delays in student visa processing, stalled federal research funding, and a growing number of legal and policy challenges to programs serving undocumented and international students.
Here are some of the links and references from this week’s show.
Reconciliation
Advocate for Students and Campuses in the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Bill
ACE
Senate 2025 Education Budget Reconciliation Bill
ACE | June 12, 2025
Senate Finance Reconciliation Tax Package: Summary of Key Higher Ed Provisions
ACE | June 17, 2025
A Running List of Policies Rejected From the Republican Megabill
The New York Times (sub. req.) | June 26, 2025
Risk-Sharing: A ‘Well-Intentioned’ Disaster for Colleges?
Higher Ed Dive | May 6, 2025
Rescission
White House Eyes Rarely Used Power to Override Congress on Spending
The New York Times (sub. req.) | June 17, 2025
International Students
State Dept. Restarts Student Visa Interviews With Tougher Social Media Rules
The Washington Post (sub. req.) | June 18, 2025
Legal Developments
Judge Orders NIH to Restore Research Funds Terminated Using Political, Not Scientific Criteria
WBUR | June 17, 2025
Judge Blocks the Trump Administration’s National Science Foundation Research Funding Cuts
The Associated Press | June 21, 2025
US Judge Blocks Defense Department From Slashing Federal Research Funding
Reuters | June 17, 2025
Federal Judge Won’t Block Trump’s Cuts to IES
Inside Higher Ed | June 18, 2025
U.S. Justice Department Sues Minnesota for Offering In-State Tuition Costs to Undocumented Students
The Minnesota Star Tribune (sub. req.) | June 25, 2025
Tennessee Lawsuit Puts HSIs’ Fate on the Line
Inside Higher Ed | June 13, 2025