Major Updates

International-Student Crackdown Escalates | UPCEA Joins Opposition to Broad Changes

After weeks of public sparring, the Department of Homeland Security formally revoked Harvard’s authority to host F-1 and J-1 students on May 22, citing non-compliance with new federal demands around campus protests and DEI programs. More than 6,800 students, about a quarter of Harvard’s enrollment, would have been forced to transfer or leave the country.

Harvard answered the same day with an emergency lawsuit and, on May 23, won a temporary injunction that restores its Student-and-Exchange-Visitor Program (SEVP) certification while the case proceeds. The judge said the administration’s action “appears calculated to punish protected speech” and would cause irreparable harm to students.

The fight is part of a broader policy shift: the State Department has paused all new student-visa interviews while new social-media vetting is designed, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. will “aggressively revoke” visas for some Chinese nationals in “critical” fields. Institutions with large international student pipelines or with heavy Chinese enrollments should prepare for sudden drops in starts and heightened document requests. 

In a May 30 letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, UPCEA joined more than 60 associations led by the American Council on Education urging the department to lift the interview pause and abandon wholesale visa revocations, warning that delays threaten the nationwide economic impact of $44 billion that international students contribute.

 

Sector-Wide Letters Push Back Against Trump Administration and Congressional Cuts

• UPCEA Calls On Trump Administration to Reforge the Compact with Higher Education
  UPCEA joined with more than 50 higher education organizations, representing tens of millions of students, educators, researchers, and administrators nationwide, in a statement that expresses broad opposition to recent actions by the administration that jeopardize the longstanding partnership between the federal government and colleges and universities.​​ The statement emphasizes that the campus-federal partnership has made American higher education an engine of national progress and prosperity, and urges the administration to reforge this vital compact and work with colleges and universities to advance our shared national interests.It is dangerous and disruptive, the statement notes, to hold billions of dollars for education and competitively awarded research grants hostage for political reasons and without due process. Efforts to condition funding on colleges and universities surrendering control to the federal government of core functions such as what students they admit, what courses they teach, and who teaches them is harmful to students, institutions, and our country. Read the letter

   

• FY 2026 Basic-Needs Grant Letter
  A separate letter also signed by UPCEA asks Congress for $45 million to expand the Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students program, pointing to data that 23% of undergraduates still experience food insecurity. It is essential that Congress address the crisis of student basic needs insecurity to improve affordability, retention, and completion in higher education. Basic Needs Grants help support these goals for institutions of higher education with limited resources and help scale badly needed interventions to reach more students in need. Read the letter.

 

Secretary of Education’s Discretionary Grant Priorities Highlight Alternative Pathways & Online Ed [Open for Public Comment until June 20]

The U.S. Department of Education has published proposed new agency-wide priorities that will guide all discretionary grants, both current and future. One of the sections outlining these priorities includes “flexible options such as competency-based education that allows students to progress through learning at their own pace, short-term workforce-aligned programs or three-year or less degrees, and distance education.” The proposal also invites projects that expand dual enrollment, apprenticeship pathways and part-time coursework, and it is encouraging that many of these are areas where UPCEA members already lead. 

Public comments on these priorities are due by June 20; individuals and institutions may wish to highlight their own efforts supporting these priorities. Administrators should take note and highlight programs which align with these priorities for grants in progress, or future opportunities. Read more and comment.

 

Other News

• Higher-Ed Litigation Round-up (Thompson Coburn LLP)
  The firm’s litigation summary covers more than a dozen active cases, including recent legal updates such as the surprising move of the current administration defending the past administration’s Gainful Employment rules, as well as borrower-defense claims, federal funding freezes, and many other significant court cases of note. Read more.
  
  
• Judge blocks Trump bid to dismantle Department of Education (Politico)
  “A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from firing thousands of workers at the Department of Education, ruling that the announced terminations were a thinly veiled effort to dismantle the entire department without congressional approval.” Read more.
  
  
• House of Reps passes reconciliation bill with major education cuts —$330 billion plus big Pell changes
  For summaries of what was included in the major restructuring of higher education support and policies, NASFAA’s brief outlines impacts; and short-term Workforce Pell survives. And the National Skills Coalition has put together a blog outlining some of the things from the original bill “What Workforce Advocates Need to Know About the House Education & Workforce Reconciliation Bill”. There are expected to be many substantial changes to the bill now that it is in the Senate’s hands to take action.
  
  
• New Dear Colleague Letter from ED simplifies switching accrediting agencies
  Guidance (GEN-25-03) assures institutions they may change accreditors “for mission reasons” with approvals deemed granted after 30 days. Read more.