Weaponization of Student Aid Is the Next Frontier
Preview:
The Trump administration is moving to use federal student aid and accreditation as tools of ideological control over higher education, threatening more than $120 billion in annual funding that supports roughly 13 million students. Three likely tactics include rewriting the accreditation handbook to restrict DEI standards, withholding Title IV funds from select institutions that refuse to comply, and embedding ideological requirements into annual program participation agreements. Institutions without large endowments would be especially vulnerable, as even a single cycle of withheld funding could be catastrophic.
Originally published: March 23, 2026
Author: Mike Gavin
Position: President
Institution: Alliance for Higher Education
Published by: Inside Higher Ed