These Higher Ed Policy Issues Will Define 2025
Credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images- A new president and new secretary of education will bring new policy priorities to U.S. higher education.
- Pell Grant expansion is one topic that could see bipartisan support.
- Other incoming changes, meanwhile, are likely to be hotly debated in the coming months.
Winds of change are blowing through higher education in 2025.
The new year will soon bring a new president, a new secretary of education, and a plethora of new policy priorities. Incoming President Donald Trump’s administration is sure to enact major shakeups that will cause institutions, students, and former students alike to adapt.
That’s not to mention the overarching policy issues that preceded Trump’s agenda.
Student Loan Repayment
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) will begin reporting missed and late federal student loan payments to national credit reporting agencies in early January.
This will mark the first time since March 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., that borrowers will face consequences for not being up to date on their loans. While inevitable, it may cause strife as approximately 7 million borrowers are “on their way to default,” according to the Student Borrower Protection Center.
The Trump administration will be tasked with quickly getting borrowers back on track.
However, a question looms over the proceedings: What is the status of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan?
Courts have held up the generous income-driven repayment (IDR) plan since July 2024, and SAVE borrowers have been on forbearance ever since.
Will Trump abandon the SAVE plan? Will his administration defend it in the courts? Will he create a new IDR plan to replace it or resurface older IDR plans?
These questions will impact millions of borrowers, particularly the 7.5 million enrolled in SAVE as of late 2023. IDR plans are often the only affordable option for low- and middle-income borrowers.
College Accreditation
Trump is clearly not happy with college accreditation agencies, but his plans for the industry are nebulous.
In a May 2023 campaign video, Trump vowed to fire many existing accreditation agencies. Meanwhile, Project 2025 — a think tank’s wishlist for a Republican presidency — called accreditors a “cartel” that has failed at its mission of preparing college students for the workforce.
Concrete plans for accreditation, however, are unclear.
Nonetheless, there are still levers Trump can pull to influence college accreditation. He has threatened to force accreditors to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) language from accreditation standards. Before his second term, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges said it was considering dropping DEI from its accreditation standards.
Trump may also open the door to new accreditors that more closely align with his vision for higher education.
Pell Grant Expansion
The future of Pell Grants, the federal government’s primary grant program for low-income students, is in question in multiple ways.
First, there’s uncertainty about whether the Trump administration would continue to increase the maximum Pell Grant award annually. During his presidency, Joe Biden aimed to double the maximum Pell Grant by 2029, but it appears he will fall woefully short of that goal.
Trump approved modest increases to Pell Grants each year during his first term.
Rather than increased awards, however, the Pell Grant issue to keep an eye on in 2025 is short-term Pell.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have long pushed for Pell Grants to apply to college programs as short as eight weeks. Current policy only allows these grants to apply to programs lasting at least 15 weeks.
The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act may serve as a model for how Congress could push this policy through to the finish line at last.
Still, some details need to be ironed out. One sticking point is how ED should ensure that these short-term programs actually provide value to students. However, many experts believe this is one bipartisan issue that lawmakers could align on in the upcoming congressional session.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
DEI initiatives will likely continue to be a hot-button issue across colleges and universities.
Many state legislatures have targeted DEI offices and initiatives at public institutions in recent years. A recent report from free speech watchdog PEN America found that while the number of laws curtailing education speech has decreased, last year saw a flurry of bills aimed at eliminating DEI on college campuses.
Some colleges may eliminate these programs without government action, especially under a Trump administration that has made DEI a sticking point in the culture war.
This already happened in 2024.
After the North Carolina state House speaker floated the idea of passing a law banning DEI across the University of North Carolina (UNC) system, UNC’s board of governors opted to repeal its DEI policies willingly.
Oversight of For-Profit Colleges, Universities
Trump may use 2025 to get the ball moving on oversight reform regarding for-profit colleges and universities.
Biden spent much of his tenure re-instating oversight regulations, such as gainful employment, that Trump had rolled back during his first term. While the process of making regulatory changes may extend into 2026, Trump will likely look to erase Biden’s changes.
There are also ongoing challenges to other oversight changes.
For example, the courts have paused the implementation of the Biden-era borrower defense to repayment rule.
Overturning some of these policies, however, requires negotiated rulemaking. ED would need to solicit nominations for the committee, schedule meetings, and submit any rule for public comment before it can be finalized.
While this process may start in 2025, changes likely won’t become official until 2026 or beyond.