Weekly Update

_{Credit: Camilla Forte/The Hechinger Report}

In some states, colleges face a double dose of DOGE

Oklahoma is one of about a dozen states that has considered an approach similar to the federal DOGE, though some state attempts were launched before the Trump administration’s. The federal Department of Government Efficiency, established the day Trump took office on Jan. 20, has commanded deep cuts to federal spending and the federal workforce, with limited justification.

As academia becomes a piñata for President Donald Trump and his supporters, Republican state lawmakers and governors are assembling in line: They want to get their whacks in too.

Beyond Oklahoma, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched FL DOGE in February, with a promise to review state university and college operations and spending. Republicans in the Ohio statehouse formed an Ohio DOGE caucus. One of the Iowa DOGE Task Force’s three main goals is “further refining workforce and job training programs,” some of which are run through community colleges, and its members include at least two people who work at state universities.

The current political environment represents “an unprecedented attack on higher education,” said Veena Dubal, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and general counsel for the American Association of University Professors.

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International students are rethinking coming to the U.S. That’s a problem for colleges

Foreign-born students often pay double what domestic students do — and are key to universities’ bottom line.

Education researchers sue Trump administration, testing executive power

Prominent scholars ask the courts to reverse DOGE cuts at the Education Department.

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Episode 4 of season 4 of College Uncovered, a podcast from The Hechinger Report and GBH News, is out now. 

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