Most education graduate students return to school so they can contribute to the public good. They’re willing to forgo the higher wages of their similarly educated peers because they believe education has intrinsic value, can make people’s lives better and can be transformative.

In 2019, I enrolled in a doctoral program in economics and education policy for these same reasons. I had taught for a couple of years and wanted to learn more about state and federal education policies. In the years since, I’ve worked on a range of projects looking at the effects of Pell Grants and tuition-free college policies on college student outcomes and the importance of school counselors in supporting students’ mental health and post-high school trajectories.

While the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts thus far would leave us to believe spending on this research is wasteful, it is cost-efficient and critical for creating effective policy. High-quality research helps school administrators, policymakers and the public understand what works for students and families. My research doesn’t offer me a huge financial return. Still, I believe in the work and its potential to improve public education and, in turn, students’ lives.

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In parroting Project 2025’s calls for changes to education, the Trump administration has undertaken draconian efforts to gut education research and dismantle public education, including our higher education system, often considered to be the world’s best. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has laid off half of the Education Department staff, and President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to shutter the department. Even as the courts push back against these particular actions, the administration has made clear the disdain it holds toward the Education Department and its work. 

Proposed changes to the Pell Grant and student loan programs in the House Reconciliation Bill would similarly add uncertainty and make it more challenging for students to pay for college. An executive order titled “Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness” promises to further reshape eligibility and disrupt student debt forgiveness for thousands of borrowers who have spent years working in public service, including many teachers and education professionals. Research funding for colleges and universities has already been decimated by proposed and enacted cuts in the Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. That’s in addition to the discontinuation of many data collection projects that support critical education research.

Despite the apparent illegality of many of these actions, the message the Trump administration is sending to the public is clear: Don’t go to college. The provision of federal financial aid for students simply cannot be counted on anymore. Opportunities that have helped me to build a research agenda, like support from the National Science Foundation, won’t exist for future grad students. Funding for my current postdoctoral fellowship from IES has been canceled, and it’s not clear whether our team will be able to accomplish all the goals we set out to achieve.

Many universities have halted admissions to doctoral programs in anticipation of shrinking budgets and more cuts to federal funding. Professional pathways that once existed via federal research are unlikely to remain. Funding opportunities for critical research projects will be limited to the whims of private philanthropy, which won’t even come close to making up for cuts in federal research spending.

Related: Education researchers sue Trump administration, testing executive power

These are existential threats to our system of higher education, a manufactured austerity that demands strong responses from higher education administrators, public officials and students and their families. We should be publicly defending the importance of academic freedom, federal research funding and federal financial aid for prospective students in any way we can. We should also be ensuring that international and undocumented students are protected and feel safe on campuses.

College and university presidents, in particular, should band together to vocally demand the restoration of federal funds and fight back against threats to free speech and policies to support underrepresented students in higher education. Presidents Christopher Eisgruber of Princeton and Michael Roth of Wesleyan have set good examples by publicly denouncing research funding cuts and attacks on academic freedom and calling for more collective resistance among colleges and universities. Faculty and administrators at colleges across the country should follow the lead of many Big 10 universities in drafting a resolution to establish a mutual defense compact, which would pool the research funding and legal resources of institutions impacted by federal cuts and political targeting.

The amount of time and energy the current administration has already spent attacking colleges and universities is proof enough of the importance of these institutions to democratic norms and everyday life in America. Higher education is a core institution of democracy that fosters citizenship, supports local and state economies and facilitates intellectual growth. It offers career paths for those who believe in public education, who want to make our education system better through direct service or knowledge building. Without these pathways, we lose critical opportunities to learn new skills, undertake cutting-edge research and give back to our communities — making us all worse off. We need higher education now more than ever.

Daniel Sparks is a postdoctoral fellow in economics and education at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on higher education finance and policy.

Contact the opinion editor at opinion@hechingerreport.org.

This story about the Trump administration and higher education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.