Washington, D.C. — A new analysis from the Center for American Progress crunches the numbers on the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts that have affected more than 600 colleges and universities.
Overall, the analysis finds that the Trump administration has targeted more than 4,000 grants for cuts, valued between $6.9 billion and $8.2 billion. Based on how much of the grants had already been spent by institutions, the administration has targeted between $3.3 billion and $3.7 billion for cuts.
Using federal data, the analysis maps the affected colleges and universities to show the scale of the administration’s attack on higher education.
The analysis ranks all 50 states based on how much grant funding their higher education institutions have lost and how much funding they’ve lost per student based on the state’s enrolled student population.
The top 15 states that have lost the most federal funding based on their student population are South Dakota, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Idaho, Maryland, Montana, South Carolina, Delaware, Rhode Island, New York, Tennessee, Washington, Texas, Arizona, and North Carolina.
While the Trump administration may be trying to target colleges and universities that it believes run afoul of its policy agenda, the analysis finds that both Republican- and Democrat-governed states are facing similar impacts relative to their student populations.
It is faculty, students, and researchers across the country who will bear the burden when these federal grants are terminated. Already, the cuts have hurt ongoing research in a wide range of areas, from bolstering national security and boosting profits for farmers to finding new therapies for incurable brain tumors and decreasing illicit opioid use related to chronic pain.
“By targeting billions of dollars in federal grants for termination, the administration is depriving students, professors, researchers, and communities of critical investments meant to improve our health, agriculture systems, job opportunities, national security, and so much more,” said Greta Bedekovics, co-author of the analysis and associate director of Democracy Policy at CAP. “These data show that no institution, big or small, is safe from being targeted, and all states are suffering the consequences of cuts. The future success of many universities and colleges, their reputations, and their ability to attract talent is on the line.”
“The attack on higher education is part of a larger pattern where the administration is cutting billions of dollars in federal investments to scientific research and development and trying to dictate what scientists can and cannot research,” said Will Ragland, co-author of the analysis and vice president of research at CAP. “The result is a hostile ecosystem that is already driving scientific talent away from the United States. Americans will feel the damage of these cuts on the economy and their impacts on the United States’ competitive edge for decades.”
Read the analysis: “Mapping Federal Funding Cuts to U.S. Colleges and Universities” by Greta Bedekovics and Will Ragland
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].