By Darien Cole
The University of Colorado, Boulder’s Office of Financial Aid. (Nicholas Merl/Radio 1190)
CU Boulder students are concerned about their financial aid following President Trump’s signing of a memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Jan. 27, which ordered federal agencies to pause financial aid that contradicted the administration’s policies. While the memo was blocked the following day by district judge Loren AliKhan and subsequently rescinded on Jan. 29, the move still caused widespread consternation among students and aid organizations.
The CU Boulder Office of Financial Aid stated that, “No Title IV grants have been affected,” confirming what the OMB stated in their clarification memo. Title IV grants are need-based financial aid programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education like direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans, Pell Grants, FSEOGs, Work-Study, and federal scholarships. In addition to this any other forms of federal aid that are given directly to students wouldn’t be affected.
While existing student aid hasn’t been affected by the memo, many organizations are poised to reduce or change their distribution of aid in the future. The National Science Foundation (NSF), a key supporter of various scholarship, research, and diversity programs in the STEM space, paused grant writing on Jan. 28 to ensure that all future grants comply with President Trump’s executive orders. As of the time of writing, the pause has been lifted, and the NSF is continuing to screen grants for compliance.
Molly Dembo, a freshman at the University of Colorado Boulder, says she received a $2,000 scholarship from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), an NSF-funded organisation. “I know it isn’t affecting me but it still makes me angry,” she said, “What about everything it will affect? We shouldn’t be defunding academics or charity right now, we have a terrible education system and this is just going to make it worse.”
Other students expressed surprise and concern about being able to access funds in the future. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to actually get my aid or scholarships next year, or if they’re going to try and take it, or if they already did, or what,” Julia Transue, a freshman at CU who received the Sewall scholarship from CU, said. By contrast, Sydney Polacek, a freshman at CU, recipient of the Sewall scholarship from CU as well as financial aid from the 9/11 GI bill, was less concerned about her own scholarships and more worried about what a potential freeze could mean for others, “I’m aware of it but I didn’t think it would affect me so I haven’t thought about it much,“ she said. “It’s scary that he can make such, such sweeping decisions about who gets money.”
As of Feb 6, the order is still blocked and no funds are officially frozen. Despite this, the memo has still pushed some organizations to freeze their funding while they work to make their programs align with President Trump’s executive orders.