Nearly 9 in 10 college presidents say Trump’s policies are hurting higher education, survey shows

Nearly 9 in 10 college presidents say President Trump’s belt-tightening policies have harmed campus finances and diversity, according to an annual survey released Tuesday.

The trade publication Inside Higher Ed reported that 87% of 430 campus leaders responding to a questionnaire said Mr. Trump’s restrictions on research grants and federal student aid for low-paying degrees damaged higher education finances.

Similarly, 86% said the president’s use of federal funding as leverage to end transgender and race-based programs hurt DEI initiatives on campuses nationwide.

“Year one of Trump 2.0 brought a flurry of policy changes as the federal government sought to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion practices; restrict the flow of research funding to institutions accused of insufficiently addressing antisemitism; overhaul student financial aid; and shock the college accreditation system, among other policy goals,” Josh Moody wrote in a summary of the findings for Inside Higher Ed.

An additional 78% of presidents said the Trump administration’s policies damaged free inquiry and civil dialogue on campuses.

The survey found that 56% responded with “strategic compliance,” doing the minimum required while seeking ways to maintain longstanding institutional commitments. Most others quietly went beyond the minimum, but 2% engaged in “active resistance” through lawsuits or public advocacy.

Among the survey participants, 59% said the Trump administration had “no impact” on academic freedom at their two-year or four-year institution.

Presidents also said they thought the Trump administration had less impact on DEI and finances at their campuses than on higher education overall.

In a statement emailed to The Washington Times, the White House cited Mr. Trump’s commitments to fiscal responsibility, free speech and a color-blind civil rights policy.

“Colleges should be focused on making programs more affordable instead of demanding endless taxpayer dollars to bankroll administrative bloat at students’ expense,” said Liz Huston, a White House spokeswoman.

In a separate statement, the Education Department touted the administration’s “student-first” approach to right-sizing higher education based solely on merit.

“Generations of Americans have fought for a society where all citizens enjoy equal opportunity, and the Trump Administration is fighting every day to protect those rights,” said Ellen Keast, an Education Department spokeswoman.

Several higher education advocates not connected to the survey said the findings confirm that Mr. Trump has added to years of pressure on struggling colleges to close or merge.

“The Trump administration has taken a sledgehammer to higher education,” said Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor in the history of education at the University of Pennsylvania. “We need to ask ourselves what we did to bring about this awful moment.”

Several campus insiders singled out the president’s immigration restrictions as a key drain on their bank accounts.

“His racism and xenophobia have led to a decline in international students, many of whom pay full tuition,” said Omekongo Dibinga, a professor of intercultural communications affiliated with American University’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center.

Others cautioned against exaggerating the results. They pointed to the survey’s small sample size and noted that colleges were already struggling financially before Mr. Trump returned to office last year.

“Some institutions will move toward greater compliance; others will fight some of the policies,” said Nora Demleitner, immediate past president of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. “All will work on affordability, financial sustainability and enrollment.”

Conducted by Hanover Research from Dec. 18 to Jan. 29, the survey had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

It also found that participating presidents were concerned about declining public confidence in the value of a college degree and split on the impact of artificial intelligence on academic life.

 

Among those surveyed, 53% expressed optimism and 36% voiced concerns about the growing influence of AI.

More than half of the surveyed presidents warned that AI literacy was not widespread on their campus and that higher education was not prepared to handle the technology.

Meanwhile, 53% of presidents judged higher education at least “somewhat effective” in addressing the loss of public trust. An additional 51% insisted efforts to rebuild trust were underway.

Peter Wood, president of the conservative National Association of Scholars, expressed disbelief that the survey still found 70% of presidents “confident in their financial stability over the next 10 years.”

“Colleges cannot pretend their way to long-term solvency, though they might achieve it by significant reductions of faculty and programs,” said Mr. Wood, a former associate provost at Boston University.