Week in review: Is a new era ahead for federally funded research?

Most-clicked story from the week: 

A federal judge ruled that Trump administration officials can’t revoke existing grants based on shifting political priorities, handing a legal win to 21 attorneys general and three governors who sued over potential award terminations. 

The latest Education Department news: 

• A federal appeals court rejected the U.S. Department of Education’s latest attempt to delay decisions on tens of thousands of borrower defense applications. The ruling means that the Education Department will have to grant automatic debt relief to some 170,000 borrowers, according to the Project on Predatory Student Lending, which is representing the plaintiffs. 

• The Education Department on Thursday eliminated regulatory language known as disparate impact provisions that require federally funded colleges and K-12 schools to consider whether policies that are neutral on their face unintentionally discriminate against certain students. Sixty civil rights and education groups slammed the change, arguing it will disproportionately harm students of color. 

• Colleges are on the hook for returning federal student aid to the Education Department that was doled out to students who filed fraudulent applications, the agency said in an FAQ sent to institutions earlier this month. That means colleges could face steep liabilities as they try to fend off what are often called ghost students — fraudsters filing fake applications to obtain federal student aid dollars. 

A new era for federally funded research? 

• White House officials said they plan to prioritize giving more research funding to individual scientists and researchers, shifting some of the federal government’s roughly $200 billion for research and development away from academic institutions. They also plan to give more money to private companies and invest heavily in artificial intelligence. 

• Federal agencies used keyword searches to determine which research grants from University of California researchers they would cut to follow executive orders from President Donald Trump to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion. In recent court documents, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and other agencies said they cut hundreds of awards to University of California researchers by searching specifically for terms like “health equity” and “diversity.” 
• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently notified dozens of researchers that they would not receive more grant funding for their existing awards as the Trump administration shifts its priorities, STAT reported. Over six dozen grants with more than $100 million of funding remaining were impacted. 

Quote of the week:

Speaking at the recent National Association of College and University Business Officers’ annual meeting in Anaheim, California, Mitchell said ACE has had to toss out its policy wish list — the set of priorities it initially planned to pursue regardless of who won the 2024 presidential election.