President Donald Trump hopes to end funding for trio, federal work-working research and other grant programs to support students on campus as part of a broader program $163 billion non-defense program.
The cuts were outlined in a budget proposal released on Friday. The document is considered a “thin budget” and is essentially a wish list for the fiscal year 2026 budget for consideration by Congress. The proposal begins an effort that could take one year, namely, the budget for the next fiscal year starting October 1. Trump is unlikely to get all of his plans through Congress, although Republicans seem particularly willing to support his agenda this year.
If enacted, the plan would codify Trump’s efforts over the past three months to cut spending and reduce the size of the federal government – something some believe is illegal. (Technically, Congress has final say on the budget, but Trump and his officials have raised questions about the legality of the laws that require the president to spend federal funds as directed by the legislative branch.
The proposed budget plan cuts nearly $18 billion from the National Institutes of Health, received $12 billion from the education sector, and nearly $5 billion from the National Science Foundation. The thin budget also canceled funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Science, America, the National Foundation for the Arts and the National Foundation for Humanities. Trump has made in-depth cuts to these agencies and has put most of them(if not all) vacation.
A more complete budget is expected later this month.
Democrats quickly slammed Trump’s plans, saying it would allow the country to “help families with basics by destroying investments, which would make the country set for it. But Republicans countered that the proposal would curb “wasteful spending in Washington” and “swollen federal bureaucracy.”
For senior emergency rooms and advocates, the proposed cuts could further harm the country’s position as a leader in global innovation leaders and prevent some students from achieving university.
“Instead of ushering in a new golden age, the government proposes to cut the amazing levels of higher education and scientific research that will weaken the innovation, productivity and national security in the United States,” Mark Becker, president of the Public and Grant University Association of Public Universities, said in a statement. “We call on Congress to reject these misleading proposed cuts, but instead invest in the future of the country through education and pioneering research.”
Zero ED program
At the Education Department, the Trump administration proposes to end many programs and reduce funding to others.
The president wants to eliminate the department altogether; Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement that the proposal reflects “a agency that ends responsibly, shifts some responsibilities to states and is carefully prepared to delegate other key functions to more appropriate entities.”
McMahon abandoned nearly half of the agency’s staff in March, so the budget also addressed the cuts.
To compensate for the cuts in programs that directly support students or institutions, the government believes that universities, states and local communities should assume this responsibility. Other reasons for the cut reflect government repression of diversity, equity and inclusion programs and higher ED.
For example, officials from the Office of Management and Budget wrote that the SEOG program “helps raise college expenses [institutes of higher education] Used to fund radical leftist ideology, rather than investing in students and their success. ” (The department said the SEOG plans to offer $100 to $4,000 to students with “special financial needs.”)
Regarding trio and equipment to help low-income students go to college, these programs are “a relic of the past when financial incentives are needed to inspire higher education institutions to interact with low-income students and increase access. Today, the pendulum is gone, and the barriers to college are not the barriers to students with a limited mean.”
In addition, the government hopes to cut the offices of the civil rights budget by $49 million, or 35%. The budget document says the cut will refocus the OCR “stay away from DEI and Title IX Transgender cases.” In recent years, the Biden administration has begged Congress to increase its funding for OCR to resolve a growing number of complaints. The office received 22,687 complaints in the 2024 fiscal year, and the Biden administration expects that number to grow to nearly 24,000 in 2025.
However, the OMB file claims that OCR will clear its “large backlog” this year. “This rightization is consistent with the reduction of the entire sector and the overall federal role in K-12 and higher education,” officials wrote.
The government also proposed a 30% reduction in the overall budget for program management in the education sector. The $127 million cut reflects staff layoffs and other efforts to reduce department operations.
“President Trump’s proposed budget puts students and parents above the bureaucracy,” McMahon said. “The federal government has invested trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds into an education system that doesn’t drive improved student outcomes – we must change the curriculum and reposition taxpayer funds to achieve a validation program that brings results to American students.”
Science and research cuts
Institutions that fund research in colleges and universities are also facing in-depth cuts. The National Science Foundation’s proposed $4.9 billion cuts account for about half the agency received in fiscal 2024, which means that Congress passed the full budget last year.
These cuts will end the NSF program aimed at expanding participation in the STEM field, which totals more than $1 billion, and $3.45 billion for general research and education.
“The budget cuts: climate; clean energy; awakening social, behavioral and economic science; and programs in low-priority fields of science,” the official wrote in the budget document. “The NSF promotes research with questionable public values, such as extreme climate scenarios and the speculative impact of niche social studies.”
As an example of “suspicious public value”, officials highlighted the $13.8 million NSF grant from Columbia University to “improve livable, safe and inclusive communities” and provided the University of Delaware with a $15.2 million grant to “sustainable, economic prosperity, and coastal resilience” on “sustainable, economic prosperity, coastal resilience” on climate change. The government is maintaining funding for research on artificial intelligence and quantum information science.
The budget plan also aims to make major reforms to the National Institutes of Health while cutting the agency’s budget by $17.9 billion. NIH received $47 billion in fiscal year 2024.
The program will consolidate the NIH program in five areas: the National Institute of Physical Systems; the National Institute of Neuroscience and Brain Research; the National Institute of General Medical Sciences; the National Institute of Disability related research; and the National Institute of Behavioral Health.
The National Institute of Minority and Health Disparity, the Fogati International Center, the National Center for Supplementary and Integrated Health, and the National Institute of Nursing have all cuts. The government plans to maintain $27 billion for NIH research.
“The government is committed to restoring accountability, public trust and transparency in NIH,” officials wrote. “The NIH breaks the trust of the American people and trusts with wasted spending, misleading information, dangerous research, and promoting dangerous ideologies that undermine public health.”
