Casualties of Trump’s War on Higher Ed

Summary

Up First from NPR: "Casualties of Trump’s War on Higher Ed"

Airdate: September 21, 2025
Host: Ayesha Rascoe
Guest: Elissa Nadworny (NPR Higher Education Correspondent)
Theme: In-depth look at the Trump administration’s actions against higher education — including visa crackdowns, federal research funding cuts, political rhetoric, and the cascading impacts on students, universities, researchers, and the broader U.S. economy.

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Episode Overview

This Sunday edition of Up First takes a deep dive into the Trump administration’s combative approach toward higher education. Encompassing crackdowns on international student visas, threats and enactment of federal funding withdrawal (especially for research grants), the administration’s rhetoric about “woke” universities, and blame for antisemitism, the episode traces the intended and collateral effects on university communities, local economies, scientific research, and individual families affected by policy shifts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump Administration vs. Higher Education

• Rhetoric and Policy:

  • President Trump describes American universities as corrupting youth with “communist” and “anti-American” ideologies and threatens federal support for institutions accused of antisemitism or other perceived biases.
    • “Colleges will and must end the anti-Semitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support. No money will go to them if they don’t.” — Trump, [00:52]

• Immediate Actions:

  • Billions in research funding withheld from universities since January.
  • International student visas heavily restricted or suspended, dramatically reducing new international student enrollments.

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2. Campus Impacts: The Student Experience

• On-the-Ground Report – University at Buffalo:

  • Large international student population, usually 20% of the student body.
  • This year’s international student orientation colored by anxiety and relief due to visa uncertainty.
  • Student Voices:
    • “For me the main thing is that I got here.” — Daria Tofon, Romania [05:46]
    • “Was the visa process hard? No. Don't ask me about was awful… Uncertainty is crazy. They shut down the embassies. I just prayed so hard to God.” — Karsheti Gugward, India [06:06]
  • Denials and delays led many accepted students to defer or switch to UK universities.

• University Response:

  • Scott Weber, Provost, University at Buffalo:
    • “We take that as a very positive sign that the value of higher education in the United States is still seen as Incredibly strong.” [08:23]
    • The school expects a 15% drop in international students this fall, mostly in graduate and STEM programs — a significant financial hit, as these students pay full tuition.
    • The university compensates by increasing domestic student admissions.

• Narrative Tension:

  • While some see more spots for American students as a positive, Weber insists there is “room for everyone,” denying that international students take spots from U.S. students. [09:41]

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3. Ripple Effects: Economic & Innovation Losses

• Broader Trends:

  • National predictions of declines in new international students, with NAFSA (Association of International Educators) estimating up to $7 billion in lost local economic activity and over 60,000 jobs at risk.
    • “The loss of international students will lead to really a significant downturn in innovation and entrepreneurship for the United States, which will have long term impact.” — Fanta Aw, NAFSA [11:10]

• Possible Policy Reversal Signals:

  • After dramatic enrollment drops, Trump hints at wanting to ‘double’ Chinese students in the U.S.:
    • “I like that their students come here. I like that other country's students come here. And you know what would happen if they didn't? Our college system would go to hell very quickly.” — Trump [12:01]

• Financial “Firestorm” on Campuses:

  • Multiple institutions, such as Northwestern and Boston Universities, lay off hundreds due to budget shortfalls caused by the funding crisis.

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4. Federal Research Funding Cuts: The Crisis Explained

• Historical Context:

  • The federal government, since WWII, has underwritten university research that led to critical economic drivers (iPhone, GPS, medical breakthroughs). [$180 billion granted to academia in 2021]
    • “The government, university, industry partnership for R&D built the American economy.” — Shailen Jyotishi, New America [15:19]

• Scope and Rationale:

  • Over $10 billion in research grants canceled in the past six months, impacting diverse research from agriculture, cyber security, to medical devices.
  • Administration justifies actions mainly on combating antisemitism; critics call it a pretext for ideological retribution.
    • Many researchers see no connection between their work and political campus controversies.

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5. Human Toll: Research Cut Example & Patient Testimony

• Case Study: Dr. Jim Antaki, Cornell University

  • Biomedical engineer developing an artificial heart pump for infants; his DoD grant ($6 million) was canceled, stopping the project and leading to layoffs.
    • “There was a sweeping punishment put upon the university. This is no reason to punish us. We're trying to do good in the world.” — Dr. Antaki [18:27]
    • “It’s heartbreaking and it’s frustrating. I carry in my pocket the prototype of the baby pump … it’s so close to being used to save lives.” [19:15]

• Patient Impact: The Strickland Family

  • 4-year-old Caleb relies on a massive, hospital-bound artificial heart while waiting for a transplant — the very kind of pediatric device Dr. Antaki’s research would advance.
    • “If Caleb could have a portable implant, Caleb could go to the playground... He wouldn't need to be plugged into a wall and he wouldn't be tethered.” — Nora Strickland, Caleb's mom [23:59]
  • Memorable Moment: Caleb names his devices (Taco the pump, Henry the VAD, Broccoli for his IV pole) and navigates daily life within the hospital [22:17].

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6. Colleges’ Response: Negotiating with the Administration

• The “Deals” to Restore Funding:

  • Universities like Columbia and Brown have struck deals with the government, which include multi-million-dollar payments and campus policy concessions to get their research funding restored.
    • Columbia: Pays $200 million over 3 years, promises reforms; $1.3 billion in grants unfrozen.
    • Brown: Pays $50 million over 10 years, funds go to RI workforce organizations instead of Treasury [26:00–27:10].

• Vocational Funding Narrative:

  • Trump frames actions as pro-vocational education, but reallocation of funds remains vague. Most U.S. students attend non-elite universities and community colleges, but none of the penalized funds explicitly support these institutions.
    • “Taxing Harvard or canceling research grants at Cornell, that doesn't mean that that money is being redistributed to schools that teach trades.” — Nadworny [27:43]

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7. The Changing Value of College

• Public Sentiment:
  • Gallup poll: Only about a third of Americans see a college degree as “very important,” down sharply from a decade ago. This decline cuts across party lines.
• Elite vs. Non-Elite Schools:
  • Less than 2% of all U.S. college students attend elite universities, but these institutions dominate the public and political narrative.
• Demographic Headwinds:
  • Overall college enrollment remains fragile due to demographic trends and waning public confidence, not just policy pressure.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “For me, the main thing is that I got here.” — Daria Tofon, international student, [05:46]
• “We take that as a very positive sign that the value of higher education in the United States is still seen as Incredibly strong.” — Scott Weber, University at Buffalo, [08:23]
• “The loss of international students will lead to really a significant downturn in innovation and entrepreneurship for the United States, which will have long term impact.” — Fanta Aw, NAFSA, [11:10]
• “There was a sweeping punishment put upon the university, and it was across the board, indiscriminately. This is no reason to punish us. We're trying to do good in the world.” — Dr. Jim Antaki, Cornell, [18:27]
• “If Caleb could have a portable implant, … he wouldn't need to be plugged into a wall and he wouldn't be tethered.” — Nora Strickland, mother of 4-year-old Caleb, [23:59]
• “Taxing Harvard or canceling research grants at Cornell, that doesn't mean that that money is being redistributed to schools that teach trades.” — Nadworny, [27:43]
• “Only about a third of US adults surveyed rated the value of a college education as very important. That’s down from 53% in 2019 and 70% in 2013.” — Nadworny, [29:11]

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Key Timestamps

• 00:52 – Trump’s threats tying funding/ accreditation to university responses
• 05:46–07:37 – International students at Buffalo describe visa struggles
• 08:21 – University perspective on international enrollment drops
• 11:08 – Economic/innovation risks from shrinking international student numbers
• 14:58 – Federal funding: history and magnitude
• 17:01–18:41 – Justifications and criticism of grant cancellations
• 18:41–19:46 – Dr. Antaki’s story: pediatric heart pump grant loss
• 21:23–24:38 – The Strickland family: real-world stakes of research cuts
• 25:26–27:10 – Universities negotiating with the administration for funding restoration
• 27:43–28:24 – Critique of the narrative “elites vs. trades”
• 29:11–30:41 – Declining public sentiment about the value of college

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Overall Tone

NPR’s usual balance between fact, analysis, and empathy. The episode moves expertly from policy and politics to individual stories, highlighting both macro and micro consequences without polemic; the mood is urgent, concerned, and deeply human.

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Takeaways

• The Trump administration’s war on “woke” higher ed and antisemitism has prompted unprecedented funding crackdowns and visa barriers, affecting not just elite universities but the entire academic ecosystem.
• International students are deterred by visa uncertainty, leading to financial and intellectual losses for U.S. higher ed and local communities.
• Research funding cuts have a ripple effect, stalling life-saving innovation and devastating both labs and patients.
• Negotiated settlements to reinstate grants raise new questions about academic independence, government leverage, and redistribution of funds.
• The perceived value of a college degree is in decline, and demographic and political pressures portend a challenging future for U.S. institutions.

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This summary captures all vital points, discussions, and powerful stories from the episode, providing a clear and engaging resource for listeners or those wanting to quickly understand the issue’s contours and significance.

Transcript

[A]

Aisha I'm Aisha Rascoe, and this is a Sunday story where we go beyond the news of the day to bring you one big story. Today we're looking at higher education. This is something the president has been focusing on, too.

[B]

We spend more money on higher education than any other country, and yet they're turning our students into communists and terrorists and sympathizers of many, many different dimensions.

[A]

President Trump's complained a lot about biased teaching agendas at some universities. He's criticized the teaching of critical race theory and what he calls gender ideology. And he's argued that colleges push anti American views. He's also complained about the treatment of Jewish students on some campuses. Here's Trump at an event in Las Vegas in 2024, colleges will and must.

[B]

End the anti Semitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support. No money will go to them if they don't.

[A]

And the threat to choke off money has quickly turned real. Since January, the Trump administration has withheld billions of dollars in research funding to colleges and universities across the country. The administration has also focused its attention on international students, clamping down on student visas and in some cases suspending entry as another way to strike at university enrollment and revenue. It's left university leaders scrambling to plan for the future. NPR correspondent Elissa Nadworny has been following the impact of these changes on American campuses and beyond. Today on the Sunday story, we'll talk about what she's been seeing and hearing. Stay with us.

[C]

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[D]

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[C]

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[A]

This is a Sunday story. I'm Aisha Roscoe, joined today by NPR correspondent Alyssa Nadwarning. Hi, Alyssa.

[E]

Hey, Aisha. Thanks for having me.

[A]

So it's a new school year. I mean, we're, we're in it. You know, all the kids are back in school. If you're in college, fall semester is underway. Yep. And, Alyssa, as a reporter cover, I can imagine you've been pretty busy.

[E]

I sure have.

[A]

So what have you been seeing and hearing on campuses?

[E]

Well, I started the school year at the University at Buffalo, which is a large public university with about 30,000 students. And like a lot of large public universities across the country, they have a substantial number of international students. So in a typical year, they make up about 20% of the student body there. And the school is really close to the Canadian border. But actually, a lot of their international students come from India and China, but also all over. They have about 100 countries represented in their freshman class. So I went there for international student orientation, which happened a week before classes started. My name is Priyota and I'm from Bangladesh. I'm Karshati, and I'm from India.

[A]

My name is Rebecca and I'm from Jamaica.

[E]

I'm Minjae from Seoul, South Korea. So students from all over the world finally get to be on campus. They were mapping out their classes, meeting their roommates, getting their student IDs. So just smile.

[A]

I'm gonna take it on three. One, two, three.

[E]

There were a lot of nerves and energy and excitement. But honestly, after such a rocky summer, with all the changes and delays to student visas, there was also a lot of relief, Aisha. I mean, students were so Grateful to have made it to camp. And they told me how stressful it was this summer to get visas.

[A]

At least we're here.

[E]

For me, the main thing is that I got here. I talked with Daria Tofon from Romania. I met her and Karsheti Gugward from Pune, India, at an icebreaker event. Was the visa process hard? No. Don't ask me about was awful. No, it was. Uncertainty is crazy. They shut down the embassies. I just prayed so hard to God. I was like, this is the time.

[A]

When did you have the interview? I mean, that sounds really stressful. And why has it been so hard for them to get in?

[E]

Yeah, well, over the last six months, the Trump administration has really tightened their grip on international student visas, citing national security and foreign policy concerns. They say they want to keep campuses safe. In early summer, embassies and consulates temporarily paused visa interviews around the world, and that's a time when a lot of students would be getting their visas in time to start fall semester. The State Department also revamped the student visa application and interview process, bringing additional scrutiny to the vetting system. So that has meant there's more denials and difficulty getting visa interviews. And, of course, like, a ton of anxiety for accepted students because you can't even register for classes unless you have your immigration documents. What's your name? And my name? I spoke to Shivaka Singh from New Delhi about this. She's a freshman about to study psychology, and when she first got accepted to Buffalo, she joined a group chat of other students from India. And a lot of those students from the chat, she says, couldn't get the visa appointments in time, and so they weren't at orientation with her. Most of them are now transferring to UK because of the visa situation, but some are still waiting for the spring semester.

[A]

I guess, like, you know, given all of these recent hardships and the rhetoric from the current administration, why do international students still want to come here?

[E]

Well, even with the barriers, the students I talked to at Buffalo told me they still highly value a US College degree. Here's Shivaka again. I only had one goal from the beginning. It was to go to college here. So if I didn't reach that goal, it would have been very painful. I spoke to University at Buffalo Provost Scott Weber, and he told me they've been seeing a lot of deferrals. So students are waiting to start a semester later in the spring.

[C]

We take that as a very positive.

[E]

Sign that the value of higher education in the United States is still seen as Incredibly strong, and that we offer very strong academic programs for them to pursue and that they're eager to continue that pursuit. But the university is expecting a decline this fall of about 750 international students. That's down by about 15%. And the drop is mostly in graduate programs and in STEM fields. And Weber told me that it is a big financial hit for the school because international students often pay full tuition and that revenue is essential to the overall financial bottom line of the university. This has meant that they've had to focus on other ways to boost enrollment. So Weber told me they've upped their acceptance of domestic students. They actually admitted their largest freshman class to date this fall.

[A]

Well, that seems like something that people could view as a good thing for US Students who want to attend the school or parents who want to send their kids to these schools.

[E]

Yeah, that's a really good point. I mean, President Trump and other conservative voices have accused international students of taking university spots that could go to American citizens. And I put this question to Weber and he denied this. He says, at least at Buffalo, there is room for everyone at his university.

[A]

I would assure you that our international.

[E]

Students do not take spots for other.

[C]

Students who are qualified to attend and.

[E]

Would be successful here. So, Aisha, this trend of enrollment chaos, it's playing out all over from Arizona to Massachusetts. Universities are expecting similar drops in international enrollment this fall.

[A]

So what are you hearing about how long this trend is going to last? Like, is this just a blip? And I mean, and even though, you know, we heard from those students who got in, I mean, there are a lot of international students who are not looking at the US Right now because of the visa issues and immigration crackdowns. Yeah, I mean, they're scared. What would that mean for the US to have less international students?

[E]

Yeah, well, last year, more than a million international students studied in the US So it would mean a lot. I mean, they contribute about $43 billion to the U.S. economy. And the thing is, when they come for undergrad, they often stay for graduate programs and then postdoc research, and they get jobs, you know, so there is a big economic impact. I talked with Fanta Awe. She leads the organization called the association of International Educators, or nafsa. Odds Organization predicts that there's going to be a national drop in new international students this fall and it's going to hurt local economies.

[A]

So the loss of international students will.

[E]

Lead to really a significant downturn in innovation and entrepreneurship for the United States, which will have long term impact.

[A]

This will affect communities large and small.

[E]

The organization published a report in July that suggested that local economies could lose as much as 7 billion in spending and more than 60,000 jobs. Now, the administration has sent a number of signals that they want to limit international students, which could potentially mean that this could be long term for colleges. But Trump does seem to be paying attention to the fact that the numbers this fall are down and that that could have an economic impact. About a month after that report came out, he signaled a shift on international students, telling reporters that he planned to double the amount of Chinese students studying.

[B]

In the US I like that their students come here. I like that other country's students come here. And you know what would happen if they didn't? Our college system would go to hell very quickly.

[E]

Now, I have been talking with dozens of college presidents who tell me that this is just one of the many challenges that they're facing right now as the school year begins. I mean, they're experiencing, honestly, a financial firestorm. There's layoffs, there's a lot of panic among faculty. They have to make budgets work. I mean, Northwestern University in Chicago laid off more than 500 people about a month ago. Boston University laid off more than 100 staffers amid budget challenges. And this is all happening in the face of these huge federal funding cuts, too.

[A]

When we come back, we'll take a closer look at these funding cuts and how they're affecting people far away from university campuses.

[D]

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[A]

We're back with NPR higher education correspondent Alyssa Nadwarney. Alyssa, I don't think that most people, and certainly I didn't realize just how much money the federal government gives to universities in the form of these research grants. Can you talk about this massive system of grant giving?

[E]

Yeah. Well, it mostly started after World War II when the Federal government essentially invested and deeply entrusted universities to conduct research and development. So I talked with Shailen Jyotishi. He's the managing director of the Future of Work and Innovation Economy Initiative at New America, a left leaning think take about this.

[A]

The government, university industry, Partnership for R and D built the American economy in the 20th century. Everything from the iPhone to GPS technology.

[E]

The fortified vitamin B has had its.

[A]

Roots in federally funded research. I mean, I didn't know that. I thought it was like the military.

[E]

So think about like the iPhone, the technology that helped create the iPhone. It was based on research that MIT did on semiconductors, which essentially like power everything we do. In 2021 alone, the federal government gave colleges and universities about $180 billion across dozens of federal agencies, according to the Government Accountability Office. Now Trump understands the power of that funding as leverage. The reason is there really isn't an alternative way to fund this work. It's just too much money. There are too many unknowns in output for a private company or even an industry to take on those kinds of risks. Now, in the last six months, Trump has sought change at universities by canceling more than $10 billion in federal research grants at dozens of universities in nearly every subject and discipline, from farming to cybersecurity to diabetes research. And it's affected a bunch of different institutions, large public colleges, small elite colleges. I mean, Aisha, we are talking about cancer research, research in new wearable technology, farming solutions, early childhood development, domestic violence research. It has hit nearly every discipline and subject.

[A]

So what is the justification that the White House gives for pulling all of these funds?

[E]

Well, they frame this as a fight for civil rights. So in letters and documents, the government has accused universities of things like liberal bias, of considering race in admissions policies, which is illegal following a Supreme Court decision. But the largest Justification is combating antisemitism on campus. So in the wake of October 7 attacks on Israel and then the subsequent bombardment on Gaza, there were a lot of pro Palestinian protests at universities, and sometimes that came with angry rhetoric towards Israel, and in some cases, Jewish students on campus were harassed. And that helped spark this focus on antisemitism within the administration. And so most of these canceled grants stem from what the administration says were inept responses from universities to curb discrimination on campus. Now, critics of the administration say that this is simply a pretext, that the administration just wanted reasons to crack down on colleges, particularly elite ones. And researchers I've talked to tell me they don't see the link between what they're working on, like medical research and, and accusations of campus wokeness or antisemitism.

[B]

We feel like collateral damage.

[E]

I talked with Dr. Jim Antaki, who is a biomedical engineer at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

[B]

There was a sweeping punishment put upon the university, and it was across the board, indiscriminately. This is no reason to punish us. We're trying to do good in the world.

[A]

I'm guessing he's one of the researchers whose federal grant was cut.

[E]

Yeah, he's working on designing an artificial heart for infants and toddlers. But this spring, the Department of Defense canceled his more than $6 million multi year grant to make a pediatric heart pump. So Dr. Antaki was in the final stages of research and manufacturing before it went to clinical trials. And while he's desperately trying to find other funding resources, his lab has had to stop all work. And then his key technician on the project was laid off by Cornell.

[B]

So we're sitting on our hands and biting our nails. I'm seeing before my eyes the contraction of our lab and perhaps the end of the road for the pediatric heart pump project. It's heartbreaking and it's frustrating. I carry in my pocket the prototype of the baby pump, and it's like my security blanket. It's about the size of a AA battery, and it's so close to being used to save lives and children.

[A]

So who's going to suffer from this? Is there a large population of people that need this device?

[E]

Well, about 1 in 100 babies in the US are born with a congenital heart defect. And there's no artificial heart designed for babies or young kids. The FDA even identified this as an area of critical medical device need. And that's, like, what motivates Dr. Antaki. You know, he has been working on this research his whole career.

[B]

The current technology involves pumps that are outside the body and are really only useful for short periods of time. This device will be implanted inside the body, most likely, like under the diaphragm, like in the stomach area. Right now, patients get this external device could be in the hospital for months. And just the anguish that the families go through is just unimaginable.

[A]

I mean, we're talking about babies and toddlers. I mean, that's just the most vulnerable population. Yeah.

[E]

And it's really tough for the families. I went to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to meet one of those families who's going through kind of this unimaginable time. They have a child on a vad, which is an artificial heart. Mom? Yeah. What does VAD stand for? Oh, well, how many. What type of heart do you have? Semi ventricle. Yeah.

[A]

And what.

[E]

How many ventricles does a typical heart have? 2. That's right. That's Nora Strickland and her son Caleb, who's 4. He was born with a congenital heart defect. And when he was really little, he had three open heart surgeries to repair his heart, so that by his fourth birthday, he was actually living the life of a pretty normal kid. C, A, L, E. And then. What does that spell? Caleb. I made my name. You made your name. I made my name. But last spring, a virus sent his already weak heart into failure, and he spent the last three months at the hospital with an artificial heart pump. It's keeping him alive while he waits for a transplant, but it's pretty limiting. Lift you up okay?

[A]

Actually, I'm pretty heavy.

[E]

You are okay. Here, why don't you sit on my knee? The artificial heart device is filled with blood, and it hangs from Caleb's skinny little frame. The IKIS driver, which powers the device is on wheels, and it weighs about 300 pounds and can only be unplugged for about 30 minutes. I'm gonna unplug Taco. Caleb nicknamed his heart pump Taco. And when he goes down to the hall to the playroom, he basically has 20 minutes to get himself plugged back in the wheeled pole with all his blood thinning medicine. That one also comes along. You're gonna have to push broccoli. It's called broccoli. Basically, he named all the things that help keep him alive. So his heart pump is Taco, his VAD is Henry, after his favorite train character on Thomas the Tank Engine. And he named that wheeled pole with all the blood thinning medicine broccoli. And we're taking all three of them with us. We have to Cuz look, they're connected to me. See, they're connected to me. This is my van. It haunts my heart. Let's go.

[A]

I mean, you know, it's. It's so. It's so hard to hear Caleb because he's just. He's just a kid and it's so unfair what he is going through.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Listening to like, Caleb and his mom, it just seems so far away from the idea of like college and research funding cuts and all of that. But they are still being impacted directly by those decisions and those policies that, that they have no control over.

[E]

Yeah, absolutely. The stakes of this research affect real people all over the. Just like Caleb and his family. Could be worse. Could be worse. Could be worse. Mom could always be worse, bud. But then, you know, later Nora told me, like, it could also be better. She took a leave of absence from her job and spends her days at the hospital with Caleb. She says, you know, if Caleb could have a portable implant, Caleb could go to the playground. He'd be home and he'd be out and about. He wouldn't need to be plugged into a wall and he wouldn't be tethered.

[A]

How has the administration responded to the concerns from Dr. Ntaki and Caleb's mom that these cuts could harm the health of American kids?

[E]

When asked about why Dr. Ntaki's research was canceled, the grant officer at the DOD said in an email that it was, quote, at the direction of the administration and provided no further details. Now, this summer, the FDA added pediatric ventricular assist devices to their medical device shortage list. But when I reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services about this irony, canceling a grant focused on developing just that, they didn't have a comment on that. They did say ensuring the public has access to safe and effective medical devices is a top priority for the FDA.

[A]

So what's the outlook for Dr. Ntaki and his lab?

[E]

Well, one hope is that the university makes a deal with the Trump administration and then that gets this funding for Dr. Ntaki and hundreds of other Cornell researchers to be reinstated. And there has been a roadmap for this. So far, both Columbia University and Brown University have agreed to deals to restore research funding. Columbia went first. They agreed to pay $200 million over three years to government. It's basically money that goes to the treasury, like into the general fund. So it's actually not clear what that money is going to be used for. They also agreed to take steps to curb antisemitism on campus and to share data related to admissions, among other things. And in return, the government said it would restore access to about $1.3 billion in federal funding for Columbia. That amount includes resuming frozen grants and opening up opportunities for future research. And then the second school to make a deal, Brown University, they essentially looked at what Columbia did and they tried to get a better deal. So in order to restore more than $50 million in unpaid federal grants and allow them to be eligible for future grants, Brown agreed to pay that same amount, $50 million over 10 years. And instead of paying the federal government, they agreed to give that money to work workforce development organizations in Rhode Island. And the details about those organizations have not been made public yet. Brown says they're still working to identify all the grantees of that money. So now, Aisha, I am kind of watching to see what other universities agree to. I mean, Trump has said he wants to put more money into vocational and trade programs. So these deals, these future deals with colleges could be a way to get universities to fund that.

[A]

So Trump and his allies are framing this as kind of like the elite colleges, the big research universities versus, you know, the smaller vocational schools or community colleges. Does that hold up, you know, upon scrutiny?

[E]

Well, it's a really interesting question because most American college students actually attend community colleges and regional four year public universities, and those are the places that educate students on trades. And yet taxing Harvard or canceling research grants at Cornell, that doesn't mean that that money is being redistributed to schools that teach trades. And so while Trump's idea to fund trade schools is perhaps an idea that people across the country and across the aisle could really agree on, a lot of higher ed leaders I've talked to aren't convinced that this administration's approach is actually the way to do that.

[A]

This seems to get to this larger idea where it seems like a lot of the Trump administration and others are painting higher education as bad for America. It's anti conservative and it's pushing, you know, liberal, quote, unquote, woke ideology. And, you know, it's just a bunch of people in their ivory towers looking down on the little regular people, not to mention the cost and the all the student loan debt that you take on to go to college. Like, is it, is it really needed in this day and age? Is a degree needed in this day and age?

[E]

Yeah, I guess. Let's first start with kind of Americans perception of college. This has been declining. And new research this month from Gallup shows Americans are putting less importance on going to college. Only about a third of U.S. adults surveyed rated the value of a college education as very important. That's down from 53% in 2019 and 70% in 2013. And the research also found that this dwindling perception, it's happening regardless of political party affiliation. Now, I think you're absolutely right in terms of Trump's base. This fight against elite universities fits in with the narrative around kind of the common man appeal that Trump maintains. I think that one thing we should talk about is the difference between these elite schools and the rest of higher education. You know, I've been covering this beat in higher ed for more than a decade, and I've talked to a lot of students and families who feel like the admissions process for these competitive schools is just unfair. But there is such a big difference between Those kind of 200 schools that have really high rejection rates and the rest of higher education. Like those elite schools, Aisha, they educate less than 2% of Americans that go to college. And so this perception of these elite schools, they've really shaped the overall perception of college, even though that's really not most people's experience. You know, the pandemic saw about a million fewer students enrolling in college. And it's taken basically five years to kind of crawl back to pre pandemic levels of folks going to college. But there is, I think, a lot of trepidation among college leaders because there is a demographic cliff coming. So that means fewer high school graduates are going to be around in the coming years. And so I think regardless of this administration's stance towards higher ed, enrollment is going to continue to be a struggle for institutions. And I think we're going to see in the next decade, you know, what colleges and universities do to survive because it's pretty challenging out there to be a university, to be a college.

[A]

Alyssa, thank you so much for all of your reporting.

[E]

You bet.

[A]

This episode of the Sunday Story was produced by Justine Yan and edited by Jenny Schmidt. Mastering by Robert Rodriguez. The Sunday Story team includes Andrew Mambo and our senior supervising producer, Liana Simpson Trump. Irene Noguchi is our executive producer. I'm Aisha Rosco. Up first is back tomorrow with all the news you need to start your week. Until then, have a great rest of your weekend.

[C]

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[D]

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