The economic climate for higher education wasn’t exactly breezy when the year began.  

Years of regional demographic shifts, heightened inflation and wavering demand for college have taken their toll on institutional operations across wide swaths of the sector. 

President Donald Trump’s return to office introduced myriad new fiscal ordeals for colleges, along with legal and political tribulations. 

Already the administration has terminated or slowed countless research grants both universally and in targeted attacks on disfavored institutions. With the passage and signing of Republicans’ massive budget bill, taxes will rise for some of the larger college endowments while the student aid system will undergo a revamp that includes an end to Grad PLUS loans and introduction of various borrowing limits, all of which could weigh on revenues.

Moreover, Trump’s aggressive stance on immigration and international students could hamper college demand and revenue, as Moody’s analysts recently noted.

As colleges try to adapt, reimagine their operations or just survive, many are shrinking their budgets, including by laying off faculty and staff. In effect, Trump has introduced a new era of austerity for higher ed, while the pain of inflation and enrollment pressure never went away. 

Here’s a look at how some are girding for an uncertain fiscal future in Trump’s second term: