Trump’s FY 2026 Budget Request Calls for Decreasing Maximum Pell Grant and More Reductions for Student Aid Programs
Hugh T. Ferguson
June 5, 2025
The White House has unveiled a more detailed budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2026, with reduced funding levels for the Department of Education (ED) that the administration says are meant to reflect a responsible “winding down” of the federal agency.
According to the more detailed budget, unveiled on Friday evening, the overall request calls for $66.7 billion in new discretionary budget authority for ED, which is $12 billion less – a 15.3% reduction – than the enacted level for FY 2025.
The documents follow the administration’s “skinny budget” request, which first outlined massive funding cuts to ED programs but did not offer specific requests for all programs. Instead, the administration highlighted that they sought to cut $163 billion in non-defense discretionary funding across the federal government.
As previously noted in the “skinny budget,” the proposal requests that the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) program be eliminated, losing all of its $910 million in funding. The Federal Work-Study (FWS) program would lose $980 million in funding, leaving the program funded at $250 million. Employers would also be required to pay 75% of a student’s hourly wages and the federal contribution for FWS would be reduced to 25%. Other programs eliminated in the administration’s proposal include the TRIO programs and Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP).
