An article from Week in review: Trump administration policies hit colleges’ pocketbooks

We’re rounding up last week’s stories, from the federal government’s new probes and deals to the impact of policy shifts on the higher education sector.

Published Aug. 4, 2025 Ben Unglesbee Senior Reporter

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Students walk near Royce Hall on the campus of University of California, Los Angeles. The university is under investigation and faces a funding freeze from the Trump administration. Kevork Djansezian via Getty Images Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Most clicked story of the week:

As Catholic colleges manage higher expenses and enrollment challenges, more have been merging as a way to save costs, combine resources and expand their reach. One expert envisions a larger network of Franciscan or Jesuit institutions to strengthen the sector.

Number of the week:   425 That’s how many staff jobs Northwestern University is cutting as it navigates higher costs, federal research funding losses and a hostile policy climate. Nearly half of the eliminated roles were vacant, but the private Illinois institution is also laying off staff. All told, the cuts represent around 5% of Northwestern’s staffing budget. A government shakedown of higher ed?

• The Trump administration announced this week that it has opened two civil rights probes into Duke University. The investigations, through two separate federal agencies, are based on allegations that the university’s law journal and medical school racially discriminate against students and employees. In the law journal's case, the Department of Education cited allegations that the publication gives an advantage to minority applicants. The agencies suggested the private North Carolina university could “partner” with the administration to resolve some of the claims.
• On Thursday, the University of California, Los Angeles said federal agencies had suspended some of its research funding. The freeze follows accusations earlier in the week from the U.S. Department of Justice that UCLA violated civil rights law by failing to adequately protect Jewish and Israeli students. The agency said the university should have removed a pro-Palestinian encampment erected in spring 2024 sooner than it did.
• Brown University, in Rhode Island, struck a deal with the administration that includes paying $50 million to state workforce development organizations that “comply with anti-discrimination laws,” according to the White House. It followed Columbia University’s more than $220 million deal with the administration. 
• A group of Northwestern faculty urged college officials to refuse any potential deal with the Trump administration following a Wall Street Journal report that leaders were in talks with the government about a possible settlement involving a payment to resolve investigations. The Northwestern faculty said such a payment would be a “ransom” to an administration they say is attacking “fundamental democratic principles.” 

ICYMI — NACUBO's 2025 conference:

• President Donald Trump’s second term has brought a cyclone of policy upheavals with profound effects for colleges. To name just a few: an executive order blitz on higher education, financial aid and tax changes in Republicans’ massive spending package, and deep cuts to the U.S. Department of Education. Experts at the National Association of University and College Business Officers' annual meeting broke down the impacts at sessions in National Harbor, Maryland. 
• As financial pressures on colleges mount, some are teaming up with their peers on shared services. California State University is undertaking such an effort, as administrators look to combine and streamline their back-office operations across the system’s campuses in areas such as procurement and cybersecurity. 

Quote of the week:

“Who the president is makes a difference. They set the tone of the institution in many ways. But presidents today can exercise less independent leadership than they did in the past — they’re being put on a shorter and shorter leash.” 

James Finkelstein

Professor emeritus at George Mason University

Finkelstein spoke with Higher Ed Dive about the changing role of college presidents in a more politicized and corporatized environment for higher education.

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