Daily Briefing

Good morning, and welcome to Wednesday, July 2. Rick Seltzer wrote today’s Briefing. Brock Read compiled Transitions. Get in touch: dailybriefing@chronicle.com.

The Senate’s big, bitter pill for higher ed

Policy wonks scrambled to sort through the details yesterday after Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote to send Republicans’ signature tax-and-spending package to the House.

Colleges fare better in the Senate’s version of President Trump’s much-touted “Big, Beautiful Bill” than they did in the House’s.

• A softened endowment tax: While both chambers want to expand the tax, the Senate passed lower tax brackets. Senators also added an exemption for colleges that enroll up to 3,000 students after its parliamentarian killed a carve-out for religious institutions that was in the House bill. That’s good news for some small, wealthy institutions like Grinnell College, as The Chronicle’s Lee Gardner reports.
• Fewer student-lending changes: Senators didn’t adopt a House plan to eliminate subsidized federal undergraduate loans.
• Pell students won’t have to take more classes: The House wanted students to enroll in 30 semester hours per year to qualify for full Pell Grants, up from 24 under current law. And it wanted to eliminate grants for students taking less than 15 hours per year. Senators ditched the changes altogether.
• Work-force Pell survived: Expanding Pell Grant availability to short-term programs has bipartisan support, but the Senate parliamentarian initially nixed an expansion. Senators sidestepped that ruling by limiting the new work-force Pell Grants to accredited institutions and boxing out those that are unaccredited, Inside Higher Ed reported.
• The parliamentarian struck several other measures: Proposed restrictions on student-aid eligibility for immigrant students and an attempt to apply revised student-loan programs to current borrowers didn’t survive procedural scrutiny, the American Council on Education noted.

But make no mistake: Senators still handed higher ed bitter pills to swallow:

• Penalties for poor earnings outcomes: Senators abandoned the House’s complex risk-sharing plan, which would have had institutions putting money into a new pot of federal aid if their students struggled to repay loans. Instead, the Senate-passed plan would yank federal-loan eligibility from programs whose graduates don’t get an earnings bump. Senators tweaked the details in the days leading up to Tuesday’s vote so that colleges would be judged on the earnings of their graduates, but not dropouts.
• Curtailed federal lending: The Senate agreed with House plans to eliminate Graduate PLUS loans. Senators also agreed to add caps to lending programs, though the exact levels differ between the chambers. Senators set a maximum lifetime borrowing cap at $257,500, nearly $60,000 higher than the House wanted.

“There are still a lot of concerns about the Senate bill, but they did far less to hurt low-income students than what the House would have done,” Jonathan Fansmith, senior vice president for government relations and national engagement at the American Council on Education, told the Daily Briefing.

The House is moving toward voting on the bill as soon as today. If it passes without changes, Trump could meet his goal of signing it by July 4.

Lobbying didn’t let up:

• From the president: “We can have all of this right now, but only if the House GOP UNITES, ignores its occasional “GRANDSTANDERS” (You know who you are!), and does the right thing, which is sending this Bill to my desk,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
• From House leaders: “Although it differs from the House-passed version, the Senate-passed big, beautiful bill is an important step to bringing down costs for American students, families, and taxpayers,” Tim Walberg, chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said in a statement. “I look forward to passing the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act as it returns to the House.”
• From philanthropists: Arnold Ventures panned the overall bill as a budget buster but supported its higher-ed provisions, arguing they align federal spending with economic outcomes. “Provisions to cap graduate lending and hold programs accountable for poor performance are important steps forward,” Kelli Rhee, its president, said in a statement. “The House should build on this progress by adding a debt-to-earnings ratio to ensure students are receiving degrees with real economic value.”

The bigger picture: As important as the Senate’s provisions are for higher ed, they’re not in line to sink the bill in the House. If it hits a snag in the narrowly divided lower chamber, it’ll be because of other issues that have divided Republicans, like Medicaid cuts or projected deficit increases.

For more from The Chronicle: "What the Senate’s Sprawling Policy Bill Means for Higher Ed”

More federal news

• Accreditor warns Columbia: The Middle States Commission on Higher Education has warned Columbia University that it might be out of compliance with ethics and integrity standards, asking the institution to submit a November report on federal civil-rights investigations it faces, its campus-safety plans, and its efforts to build a respectful climate for those with different backgrounds and perspectives. Last month the U.S. Department of Education pushed Middle States to act on allegations that Columbia had violated antidiscrimination laws, raising concerns that the Trump administration was weaponizing accreditation in its quest to force changes on campus. Nicole Biever, the accreditor’s chief of staff, told the Daily Briefing in an email that the warning “was based on all of the information available … which included all recent reporting.” (Middle States, The Chronicle)
• Penn agrees to ban trans athletes: In order to resolve a federal Title IX case, the University of Pennsylvania agreed not to allow trans athletes to compete in women’s sports and to define “male” and “female” in line with an executive order from President Trump. The institution also agreed to send “a personalized letter of apology” to female members of the swim team, the Trump administration announced. (U.S. Department of Education)
• Duke ends scholarship for Black students after 46 years: The private institution is ending its Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship program, which had considered merit and need in making awards that fully covered tuition, room, and board for “top applicants of African descent,” its student newspaper reported. The university cited a legal landscape that’s newly hostile to race-based considerations. Funding that was earmarked for the scholarship will now go to need-based aid and a leadership program that’s open to all students, although current scholarship recipients will still receive funding. (The Duke Chronicle)
• Feds won’t kick employers out of PSLF before next July: A contentious proposal to make workers ineligible to participate in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program if their employers take part in “activities that have a substantial illegal purpose” won’t go into effect before next year, Education Department officials said in negotiating sessions this week. The department has proposed giving itself wide authority to determine what counts as an illegal purpose. Borrowers who work for an entity booted from the program wouldn’t lose credit for previous payments toward the 120-payment loan-forgiveness threshold, but their new payments wouldn’t count unless they were to change employers. (NASFAA)

Quick hits

• More black eyes for Columbia: A hacker who says they wanted to see if the university has continued to practice race-conscious admissions last month stole decades’ worth of students’ and applicants’ personal information, according to a Bloomberg review of data. Separately, the university on Tuesday agreed to pay $9 million to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging the institution falsified data to buoy its position in U.S. News & World Report rankings. Columbia denies wrongdoing but says it “deeply regrets deficiencies in prior reporting.” (Bloomberg, Reuters, The Chronicle)
• Faculty dinged for slow-walking student transfer: An analysis of three universities in Texas by the nonprofit education-research group MDRC found that processes aren’t standardized, leaving professors at four-year colleges to evaluate whether credits should be accepted from two-year institutions. That can make the prospect of transferring a black box for students who don’t know if the courses they completed would count toward a four-year degree. (Inside Higher Ed)
• CFO suggests college should have raised tuition: The University of Montevallo, in Alabama, has laid off 24 employees and increased tuition by 3.5 percent in an effort to balance its budget. Deanna Smith, the public institution’s interim chief financial officer, said: “We went seven years without increasing tuition. That’s too long.” (WBMA)

State of the states

• Indiana colleges cut one-fifth of degree programs: Six public institutions are cutting or consolidating a collective 408 programs before a new state law requiring them to ask a state commission to continue low-enrollment programs takes effect. That’s about one-fifth of the 2,200 programs the institutions offer, though more could be on the chopping block unless the state grants waivers. State leaders cast the new requirements as meeting economic needs while keeping students from being overwhelmed by too many choices and high costs. (Indiana Capital Chronicle, Indianapolis Star)
• Kansas presidents in line for bigger raises than staff: The state’s Board of Regents raised college president and chancellor salaries by an average of 6.4 percent, with officials saying they wanted to make executive compensation competitive with peer institutions. Lawmakers have allocated money to close pay disparities for state employees, including on campus. But that money can be used to raise pay by only 2.5 percent, or to 10 percent below market rates — whichever amount is greater. As institutions face financial challenges, regents have also approved tuition increases averaging 3.9 percent for in-state undergraduates. (Kansas Reflector)
• Iowa governor orders antisemitism review: Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signed an executive order telling the state’s Board of Regents to report on policies concerning antisemitic actions and speech, as well as actions institutions have taken in response to incidents since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023. (Radio Iowa)
• Budget deal funds U. of Wisconsin system: A Tuesday agreement between Republican lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, would increase funding for the university system by $240 million over two years. Republicans had floated cuts last month. The agreement would also require minimum faculty workloads and a study of the system’s sustainability. (Associated Press)

Sports report

• Could athletic directors warm to collective bargaining? Danny White, the University of Tennessee’s athletic director, argues that colleges could solve player-movement and compensation headaches by agreeing to terms with a players association. Such a change could head off antitrust challenges that are expected against a new clearinghouse to regulate the name, image, and likeness marketplace. At least three dozen athletics leaders say they support the bargaining concept, but some skeptics say it’s not feasible. (Yahoo Sports)
• Settlement plaintiffs want pay-for-play cap audited: Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the landmark antitrust case that allows colleges to pay players up to $20.5 million this year are questioning whether athletic departments were forthcoming in cap calculations. The payment limit is supposed to be based on revenue generated by Power Five colleges. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say they’re willing to temporarily use $20.5 million as a starting point. But they want to run the math themselves, checking line items like revenue from luxury suites in case adjustments are warranted. (USA Today)
• Pac-12 picks up another member: Texas State University accepted an invitation to join the conference next July, which would make it the ninth member of a Pac-12 seeking to recover from the near-death experience of being raided by rival power conferences. (Texas State University, The Chronicle)

Transitions

• Ceci Toro, a neurobiologist at Sarah Lawrence College, has been named associate dean.
• Terry Roberson, an emeritus professor of education and former provost at the University of Montevallo, has returned to the institution as interim president. The previous president, John W. Stewart III, retired in May after serving 15 years.
• The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has named two new deans. Ginger Gummelt, a former chair of sociology, social work, criminal justice, and anthropology at Lamar University, will become dean of the College of Business, Health, and Human Services. Tansel Karabacak, director of Little Rock’s physical-sciences school, will become dean of the Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

To submit a new-hire announcement, email people@chronicle.com. You can also find Transitions online here.

Footnote

Last July, the EA Sports College Football video game returned after NIL payments freed it from legal considerations that kept it off of shelves for 11 years. It went on to become the best-selling sports game in U.S. history, finishing 2025 as the second best-selling title among all video games in the domestic market, as Sports Business Journal reported.

The most obvious way to follow up on such a hit is by touting new rosters and features in an updated version that will go on sale in just a few days. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as they say.

The second most obvious way to follow up is to resurrect another college sport that was in NIL-induced video-game purgatory: basketball.

EA Sports is teasing a new version of its long-dormant basketball franchise. Rival publisher 2K also showed interest in taking to the digital hardwood.

The return won’t be a fast break. EA is targeting 2028, according to Extra Points. It takes time to sew up the intellectual-property rights and code stadiums’ digital doppelgängers, The Athletic reported.

EA is reportedly planning to include men’s and women’s teams from all Division I institutions that opt in. And why, amid the current mad scramble for new revenue in the pay-for-play era, wouldn’t colleges opt in? As with the football game, colleges are set to be allocated royalties based on how frequently players use their basketball teams.