What Higher Ed Can Expect as Trump Takes Office

Inside Higher Ed

Jessica Blake

January 20, 2025

Trump has promised to crack down on DEI programs, fire accreditors and abolish the Education Department.

President Donald Trump’s inauguration today kicks off what is likely to be a disruptive four years for higher education.

He enters office at a time when college and university enrollment numbers are floundering, public disillusionment with the cost of a degree is growing and culture wars are raging on. Combined, these circumstances give the president—and his Republican counterparts on Capitol Hill—an opportunity to ramp up scrutiny and accountability measures for the nation’s top institutions while also decreasing the federal footprint in education.

During the campaign, Trump said he plans to abolish the Education Department, ban the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports, “fire” accreditors and cut funding for scientific research. He has also discussed expanding short-term financial aid offerings, making student unionization more difficult, protecting conservatives’ speech on campuses, disallowing college vaccine mandates and creating a free online national college funded by new taxes on wealthy private universities.

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