On April 28, the House Committee on Education and Workforce released a draft of its reconciliation proposal and marked up the bill on April 29. The committee has received reconciliation instructions to produce at least $330 billion in savings over 10 years. The bill calls for significant changes to programs and initiatives administered by the Department of Education (ED), and includes concerning cuts and eliminations in the federal student aid space, such as:

• Changing the definition of full-time enrollment for Pell Grant eligibility from 12 credit hours to 15 credit hours
• Terminating the subsidized loan program for undergraduate students
• Terminating the Grad PLUS Program, with some allowances for continued borrowing by current Grad PLUS borrowers
• Limiting the Parent PLUS program to parent borrowers whose student borrows the maximum annual amount of unsubsidized Direct Loans in an academic year, and establishing aggregate loan limits for the program
• Requiring institutions participating in the Direct Loan program to take part in risk-sharing payments to ED

In response to this news, NASFAA Interim President & CEO Beth Maglione provided the following statement: (NASFAA = National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators)

“In this volatile economy, students and families are questioning not just how they will pay for college, but whether they should go at all. Rather than making college more affordable, this bill would eliminate entire federal student aid programs, significantly reduce eligibility for others, strip protections and flexibilities for struggling borrowers, and remove provisions intended to protect taxpayer dollars.

While the financial aid community supports some proposals, such as certain fixes to the need analysis formula that ensure Pell Grants only go to the neediest students, the benefits of those changes are far outweighed by other restrictions in eligibility, ending the subsidy for student loans for undergraduate students, eliminating the Grad PLUS loan program, and sunsetting unemployment and economic hardship deferments for struggling borrowers — to name just a few.

There are still multiple steps required before any of these changes would become law, making the reported July 1, 2025, effective date for many of these changes — specifically those that would impact the Pell Grant program — unlikely. While the likelihood is low, the fact that lawmakers would even consider implementing these changes for the upcoming school year is deeply concerning. To be clear, the vast majority of financial aid offices have already packaged financial aid offers for next year’s students. In fact, some schools have 2025-26 aid disbursements scheduled in the next few weeks.

Making these changes at all would turn the clock back for student access; making them now would result in chaos for both schools and students. We encourage our members to contact their representatives and urge them to vote against this bill.”

Even worse, Trump Released his FY 2026 'Skinny' Budget Proposal, Making Cuts to ED Programs that are VITAL to students and their success.

OVERVIEW OF PROPOSED BUDGET CUTS:

• Eliminate the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) program
• Cut Federal Work-Study (FWS) funding by $980 million
• Eliminate TRIO programs
• Eliminate Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP)
• $127 million cut to ED program administration
• $49 million cut in ED's Office for Civil Rights

Please, PLEASE sign this petition to get your voice heard by members of Congress on this extremely important matter. This budget and the plan for Higher Education could irreparably damage higher education in the U.S. as we know it for many, many years to come. Damage of this magnitude may never be fully corrected. Please stand against this!