APLU In The News

The halfway point of the federal fiscal year looms at month’s end, yet the National Institutes of Health has only obligated around 15 percent of the estimated $38 billion it has to distribute in grants and contracts to universities and other research institutions, Inside Higher Ed reports.

The first year of the second Trump administration inspired a bonanza of federal lobbying across sectors. Higher education was no exception. Parts of the sector — including major research universities and some of the wealthiest liberal-arts colleges — increased their spending on outside lobbying firms by millions of dollars, in aggregate, between 2024 and 2025.…

Hundreds of lawmakers have joined dozens of university leaders and academic trade associations in urging the Department of Education to amend its new regulations on federal student loans, arguing the current rule will deter students from pursuing high-demand degree programs and thus exacerbate dire health-care workforce shortages, Inside Higher Ed reports.