January 28, 2025 - Last night, President Donald J. Trump released a directive to the heads of executive departments and agencies to pause all spending on federal grants, loans, and financial assistance programs for review under the executive orders that were signed last week. This news has caused great alarm and confusion across Washington, D.C. and on campuses. ACCT is closely following the developments that stand to affect our member institutions and sharing news as we can confirm it.
The pause is most likely to affect discretionary programs, competitive grant programs, and earmarks. It does not appear that aid provided directly to individuals is affected. Social Security and Medicare were listed as examples in the memo of programs not included, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education Madison Biedermann was quoted this morning stating that Title IV aid to individuals, including Pell Grants and direct student loans, were also exempt. It is less clear where campus-based aid programs like SEOG and Federal Work-Study fall.
Other programs colleges regularly use that are likely affected include: Title III A, Strengthening Institutions, any MSI-related competitive funding, TRIO, GEAR UP, AmeriCorps, Head Start, Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants, Postsecondary Student Success Grants, Carl T. Perkins CTE funds, and Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending ("Earmarks"). For a more complete list, please see this post.
While the extent of the programs that are implicated it is still unclear and additional clarification from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is needed, ACCT recommends that college leaders should immediately catalog their federal competitive grants and sources and calculate how many dollars and staff on your campus could be affected. You should also assess the total number of students affected by this pause and the services or support that would no longer be provided to students.
Once you have this information, it is imperative that contact your Members of Congress and let them know what the impact of this pause means for your students, the institution, and their constituents as a whole. If you are unsure who your new lawmakers are or how to contact them, please use the directory found in ACCT’s Action center.
Agencies are compiling directions and FAQs that should be available today or tomorrow.
If you are receiving any communication from the U.S. Department of Education or any other federal agency regarding the restriction of funds or have issues accessing or drawing down funds for existing grants, please let ACCT’s public policy staff know at [email protected] and contact your federal legislators to make them aware of the issue.
For more information on other executive orders that were signed last week that could impact our institutions and students, please see our Executive Orders Primer at ACCT NOW, where we will keep an updated list of new developments.
ACCT will continue to keep members updated via the NOW blog, urgent alerts as needed, and Latest Action in Washington email alerts. To sign up for these more frequent emails, visit the blog or email [email protected].