About this episode

The hosts reflect on the significant changes in higher education throughout 2025.

The dotEDU hosts look back at a year that reshaped higher education in ways few expected back in January. Mushtaq, Sarah, and Jon talk through their top five stories of 2025, including the push to dismantle the Department of Education, the cuts at NIH and NSF, the sweeping changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill, and Congress's response to it all. Here are some of the links and references from this week's show: Register now for ACEx , Feb. 25-28, 2026 , in Washington, DC Higher Education & The Trump Administration: Resources Trump Administration Higher Ed Executive Order Tracker Full coverage of the 2nd Trump administration from The Chronicle of Higher Education The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine The New York Times (sub. req.) | Oct. 3, 2025

People in this episode

Hosts: Mushtaq, Sarah, Jon

Topics covered

• higher education
• policy changes
• government funding
• Department of Education
• Congress
• NIH and NSF cuts

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Department of Education, NIH, NSF, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times

Places: Washington, DC

More episodes of dotEDU

• Continuing the College Access Conversation · April 22, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Student Voting Is Getting Harder. Now What? · April 8, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Workforce Pell, Professional Degrees, and a Complicated Spring in Washington · March 20, 2026 · 57 min
• dotEDU Live at ACEx2026 · March 9, 2026 · 1h 1m
• A Funding Deal, the Pell Shortfall, and New Federal Pressure on Campuses · February 19, 2026 · 57 min
• What the Headlines Miss About Higher Ed: A Conversation with Kirk Carapezza · February 13, 2026 · 31 min

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