President Donald Trump on Friday released his fiscal year 2027 (FY 27) federal budget request, which includes funding requests for discretionary higher education and related programs. Additional documents, including the Education Department’s (ED) detailed justifications for proposed increases or cuts, are still forthcoming.
The materials released so far indicate that Trump’s FY 27 request looks a lot like the administration’s FY 26 budget. The administration requests $76.5 billion for ED, a decrease of $2.3 billion from last year. This is a smaller decrease than the one proposed in last year’s budget, likely due, in part, to the Pell Grant funding increase detailed below.
Like last year, the budget would eliminate many programs that community colleges prioritize and reduce others. It would eliminate funding for TRIO, GEAR-UP, Adult Basic Education, Minority Serving Institutions (MSI), Strengthening Institutions, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants and Childcare Access Means Parents in School programs. Federal Work Study would face a 90% cut.
Department of Labor job training programs would also see cuts, with many programs consolidated into a “Make America Skilled Again” block grant program. Again, similar to the administration’s FY 26 proposal.
On the other hand, the budget proposes an increase of $10.5 billion for the Pell Grant program to help cover its current budgetary shortfall. Of course, the proposed cuts would cover the Pell increase. Nonetheless, this is a strong signal from the administration to Congress to address the shortfall through additional funding and not cuts to the maximum award or eligibility changes. The administration’s FY 26 budget proposed cutting the maximum award to address the shortfall.
Last year, Congress rejected the administration’s proposed cuts and funded most student aid and higher education programs at the same levels as the previous year. Community colleges are still awaiting grant announcements for many of those programs. The FY 26 appropriations bill left open the possibility that most of the HEA Title III and V funding would be spent through an enlarged Strengthening Institutions Program, rather than through the MSI programs that the administration has deemed unconstitutional. ED has not released its plan for those funds, and the new budget request does not shed light on the issue.
