The Trump administration today released its "America First" budget blueprint, which includes deep cuts to federal student aid and research programs, The Washington Post reported.
The proposal would slash the U.S. Education Department's $68 billion budget by $9.2 billion, or 13.5 percent, targeting federal financial aid programs as part of a "focus on streamlining and simplifying funding for college." It seeks to eliminate the $733 million Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program, which the administration says is "a less well-targeted way to deliver need-based aid" than Pell grants. Federal work-study funds that help students work their way through college would be reduced "significantly." Further, the skinny budget would cut nearly $200 million from federal TRIO and GEAR UP programs, which help low-income and disadvantaged students attend college.
The science budget would cut funding across a number of agencies that support research on climate change and the environment, reported Inside Higher Ed. The plan also proposes slashing the National Institutes of Health budget by nearly 20 percent, to $25.9 billion.
The administration would maintain level funding for Pell Grants. However, the budget proposal calls for the "cancellation" of $3.9 billion of the Pell grant program's estimated $10.6 billion surplus, money that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had hoped would be used to reinstate year-round grants.
Funding for historically black colleges and other minority-serving institutions would remain at current levels under the budget. Meanwhile, funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Corporation for Community and Public Service, which runs AmeriCorps, would be eliminated entirely.
Related Links
The "America First" Budget Blueprint
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/2018_blueprint.pdf
The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trump-seeks-to-slash-education-department-but-make-big-push-for-school-choice/2017/03/15/63b8b6f8-09a1-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html
Inside Higher Ed
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/03/16/trump-seeks-deep-cuts-education-and-science-programs