@bmckib.bsky.social Bryce McKibben and I offer an analysis of the next way in which financial aid is being used as a weapon. The @alliancehighered.bsky.social has many resources and toolkits explaining other ways federal funding is being weaponized and what you can do.

We @hope4college.bsky.social are so excited that our own @markhuelsman.bsky.social will be testifying before the Senate HELP Committee tomorrow at 10AM ET on making college costs more transparent. Tune in live! www.help.senate.gov/hearings/ref...

With millions at risk of losing SNAP in the coming days, a reminder: hunger doesn't happen in isolation. When food assistance disappears, families use rent money to eat. Then come evictions and homelessness. Housing, food, healthcare—it's all connected. Cut one thread and the whole thing unravels.

i know everyone wants to talk about health care, but how can you make a govt funding deal when trump is already illegally not following the current deal? he's illegally not doing cancer research, k-12 funding, etc. unless a deal prevents that, what funding have you actually secured in some deal?

NEW: More than 199,000 federal workers have left their jobs or have been forced out by the Trump admin since Jan. 2025, per a new report. That’s nearly 10% of the entire federal civilian workforce. “We’re seeing the arson of our government." www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

The US could see a 30-40% decline in new international student enrollment, resulting in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer American jobs. https://www.nafsa.org/fall-2025-international-student-enrollment-outlook-and-economic-impact

Congressional Republicans just passed a massive budget bill that will devastate higher education and eviscerate programs that support students’ and families’ basic needs—including food assistance and medical care—in the largest transfer of wealth to the rich in U.S. history.

House/Senate are set to eliminate Grad PLUS, and put in place loan limits that would dramatically restrict graduate borrowing. Media coverage emphasizes impact this may have on very expensive programs like Medicine and Dentistry, but @peerresearch.bsky.social finds impact will be much(!) broader 1/

Republicans added a special bailout for Alaska on *higher ed,* too. The bill says owners of commercial fishing businesses won't have to report assets on the FAFSA like millions of low-income families. Even if their company earns huge profits, they might qualify for Pell Grants.

The House Reconciliation Bill—the “One Big Beautiful Bill”—would lead to millions of students opting out of higher ed, causing untold damage to the economy and curtailing opportunity for millions of low and middle-income families.

Community colleges estimate that 400,000 of their students would lose a Federal Pell Grant under the House-passed reconciliation bill. www.ccdaily.com/2025/05/wash...

In the budget reconciliation bill, House Republicans are trying to cut SNAP by $295 billion. This would cut it in third in what would be by far the largest SNAP cut in history. This would rip food assistance away from millions of people, including households with children as young as 7 years old.

The House Republican Ag bill would take food assistance from parents with kids over 6 & older adults who can’t meet harsh work requirements. Nearly 11M people live in households at risk of losing #SNAP under this provision. State & congressional-district data: www.cbpp.org/research/foo...

The Republican tax bill proposes $5 trillion in tax cuts. But one group notably left out in the cold: student loan borrowers (yet again!). The bill sets up a TAX BOMB on income-driven repayment forgiveness and other statutory loan cancellations after this year.

Agriculture text is out. Will go through it in this thread. tl;dr: this'd be the largest SNAP (nutrition assistance, formerly food stamps) cuts in history. It would severely worsen food insecurity in America.

Republicans are advancing a plan to slash $350 billion from federal financial aid, including the Pell Grant. Working students, parenting students, and really anyone juggling school, family, and jobs are at risk of losing aid. All to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. hope.temple.edu/statements-a...

Cracks are starting to appear in the federal financial aid apparatus after the Trump administration imposed sweeping staff cuts at the Education Department last month.

On April 14, #SocialSecurity will cut phone service for key tasks, forcing up to 85k more people a week to visit overburdened field offices. Vulnerable groups will face longer waits to get the help they need. www.cbpp.org/research/soc...

Proposed $230B in #SNAP cuts would make it harder for millions to afford food, raising grocery costs & deepening food insecurity. Research shows SNAP improves well-being, boosts long-term outcomes, & strengthens the economy. Here are some key findings: www.cbpp.org/blog/snap-fo...

Trump's tariffs will translate into a 2.3 percentage point increase to overall inflation this year, according to new estimates from the Yale Budget Lab — or about a $3,800 impact for the average household.

This is not an exaggeration: illegally gutting this program will cause Americans to freeze to death in their homes.

Millions of students are forced to confront a complicated financial aid process. But a simple number that didn’t exist before last year could boost financial aid for students who need it most. hope.temple.edu/the-hope-blo...

Millions of #Medicaid enrollees could be harmed by Republicans’ plan to cut Medicaid to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. These cuts could reduce coverage, raise costs, and strain local economies. They are ill-advised and should be rejected. www.cbpp.org/research/hea...

Meanwhile, Schumer has zero words of condemnation for GOP leadership, even as the sitting VP is on national TV talking about "incompatible migrants": bsky.app/profile/wart...

"Efforts to build inclusive and diverse campus communities are neither discriminatory nor illegal." Bravo to @aceducation.bsky.social and 68 higher ed associations for this muscular, powerful, unified response to the Ed Dept "Dear Colleague" letter. www.acenet.edu/Documents/Le...

The House budget resolution calls for committees to enact $2 trillion in deeply harmful cuts through 2034 in programs and services for families and communities, including cuts to #Medicaid, #SNAP, and student loans. www.cbpp.org/blog/house-r...

“The 1890 Scholars Program”—which is aimed at increasing the number of students from rural and underserved communities who study food, agriculture, natural resource and other related sciences—“has been suspended pending further review.” www.usda.gov/about-usda/g...

What these nihilistic vandals are doing to dismantle science & medicine—generations of expertise & public service & life improving benefits—is cultural revolution level national self harm. No foreign foe could inflict such brutal damage & senseless suffering on US so fast & effectively & unresisted.

Some higher ed organizations who are loudly circling the wagons against federal funding cuts were oddly silent or circumspect about the earlier attacks on CRT and DEI. I wish there was a better understanding that these attacks are coming because we failed to repel those.

Dismantling Congressionally-mandated federal research contracts sabotages our ability to understand what students are experiencing and how to help them succeed. These actions reduce transparency, sow confusion, and harm students and families. www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

this from a representative at American Institutes for Research about DOGE/Trump cancelling IES contracts is spot on (& good on them for speaking out clearly about this)

Hearing that DOGE went into the Dept of Education today and shut down almost the entirety of the department's in-house research arm, Institute of Educational Sciences, cancelling contracts totally about $900m.

The U.S. Department of Education provides essential financial aid students need to attend college and protects them from discrimination. Any effort to dismantle it is an attack on economic opportunity and will raise costs for students & families. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Today, @insidehighered.com published an important piece featuring our new report on college “cost of attendance,” or COA, by @bmckib.bsky.social. So let’s talk about cost of attendance and how it affects student basic needs security. www.insidehighered.com/news/student...