BOISE, ID – The Trump administration is targeting thousands of higher education grants worth billions of dollars.
A new analysis from the Center for American Progress finds the administration has taken aim at more than 4,000 grants at over 600 schools in every state. Public colleges and universities have seen the biggest hit, with cuts nearly twice as high as private institutions.
Greta Bedekovics, one of the authors of the report and the associate director of democracy at the center, said the cuts could cripple higher education’s research abilities.
“By targeting billions of dollars in federal grants for termination,” said Bedekovics, “the administration is really depriving students, professors, researchers and communities of critical investments that are meant to improve our health, our agricultural systems, job opportunities, even our national security.”
Bedekovics noted that there is still litigation around the cancellation of these grants, although many universities and colleges have already returned money to the U.S. Treasury.
She said some of the examples of canceled grants around the country are for research into new treatments for brain tumors, cleaning up pollution in Appalachia, and studying the effects of soil toxins on children’s health.
The Trump administration has targeted higher education grants as part of its Department of Government Efficiency initiative to find savings in the federal government.
Idaho ranks fourth in the report for the value of grant cuts per student. Grants at Boise State University, College of Idaho, and University of Idaho are on the chopping block.
Bedekovics said the largest is a grant at the University of Idaho for climate-smart agricultural methods.
“That was for innovative practices in potato, wheat, beef, sugar beet farming and things like that, and was really, obviously, helping kind of the community innovate in these agricultural practices,” said Bedekovics. “That was about $57 million — what’s left in that grant — that has now been cut from the University of Idaho.”
Bedekovics said the reputations of institutions across the country are on the line and they should stand up together to challenge the Trump administration’s moves. She added that the grant cancellations have impacts on the U.S. economy too.
“Federal investments in research and innovation provide better economic outputs,” said Bedekovics. “So like every dollar invested, for example, in National Institutes of Health funded research produces $2.56 in returns. So that’s over 150% return on investment.”