New York Times: “Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor who is considering a Democratic campaign for president, will outline on Tuesday his plan to make higher education more affordable and accessible, part of what he calls a ‘grand bargain’ between universities, the federal government and American families.”

“Mr. Emanuel’s proposal, which he is scheduled to unveil during an event at Dartmouth College, would reward universities that provide a clear path to earn a four-year degree in three years, offer free tuition to students from households earning less than $200,000 per year and cap tuition increases for everyone else at the rate of inflation.”

New York Times: “Almost everywhere in America, students are performing worse than their peers were 10 years ago, according to new, district-level test score data released Wednesday by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford.”

“Compared with a decade earlier, reading scores were down last year in 83 percent of school districts where data was available. Math scores were down in 70 percent. The declines have affected both rich and poor districts, and crossed racial and geographic divides.”

New York Times: “The Education Department has opened a civil rights investigation into whether Smith College, the women’s school in Northampton, Mass., violated anti-discrimination laws by allowing transgender students to enroll.”

New York Times: “The Education Department said on Thursday that new caps on federal loans for graduate school would take effect on July 1, a move aimed at cutting the cost of postsecondary education.”

“The loans will be limited to $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total, while loans for professional students, including those seeking medical or law degrees, will face annual caps of $50,000 and a lifetime limit of $200,000.”

Bloomberg: “President Donald Trump’s administration has opened a new front in its campaign to reshape US colleges, homing in on racial diversity at some of the top medical schools in the country.”

“The Department of Justice has launched investigations into medical programs at Stanford, the University of California San Diego and Ohio State University, accusing them of giving a leg up to minority applicants.”

“The Education Department said Monday it has terminated agreements that previous administrations reached with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding rights and protections for transgender students,” the AP reports.

“The decision means the department will no longer play a role in enforcing those agreements, which called for schools to take steps to comply with federal civil rights law.”

New York Times: “The Trump administration has opened investigations into admissions policies at three major medical schools, expanding the federal government’s pressure campaign beyond campus culture and taking aim at the heart of scientific authority in the United States.”

“The Justice Department on Wednesday informed Stanford University, the Ohio State University and the University of California, San Diego, about the investigations and demanded that the schools turn over extensive lists of data by April 24 or risk interruptions to essential federal funding.”

New York Times: “The Trump administration escalated its pressure campaign on Harvard University with two new investigations into antisemitism on campus and the school’s admissions policies, issues the federal government has repeatedly scrutinized on the Ivy League campus.”

CNN: “The Trump administration slapped a new multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Harvard University on Friday, alleging that the school is in violation of a civil rights law and has failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from discrimination.”

“It is asking a federal judge to require the school to pay back millions in grant payments and halt more than $2.6 billion in existing grants.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the Pentagon would be canceling troops’ attendance at graduate programs at some of the nation’s top universities, calling them “woke breeding grounds of toxic indoctrination,” CBS News reports.

“The University of Texas System’s Board of Regents unanimously approved a rule requiring its universities to ensure students can graduate without studying ‘unnecessary controversial subjects,’ despite warnings it could leave them less prepared for the real world,” the Texas Tribune reports.

“The rule also requires faculty to disclose in their syllabi the topics they plan to cover and adhere to the plan, and says that when courses include controversial issues, instructors must ensure a ‘broad and balanced approach’ to the discussion.”

“Their buildings can be architectural wonders. The discoveries made in their laboratories can be spellbinding and lifesaving,” the New York Times reports.

“But America’s colleges and universities are chronically searching for money, a reality that brought academic leaders and researchers into both Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit and his inbox. The schools had the prestige to lend him legitimacy. Mr. Epstein had the money to bankroll projects.”

“It worked well for some, until it didn’t.”

“The Trump administration sued Harvard University on Friday, accusing the Ivy League school of failing to produce documents sought as part of a Justice Department investigation into whether its admissions process discriminates against white applicants,” the New York Times reports.

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday that the Defense Department would sever its academic ties with Harvard University, the latest broadside by the Trump administration in its pressure campaign to force the university to cut a deal with the government,” the New York Times reports.

“The Supreme Court ruling in 2023 banning race-conscious college admissions led to declines in Black and Latino admissions at highly selective universities. At many other schools, the opposite occurred,” the New York Times reports.

“Overall, freshmen enrollment of underrepresented minority groups increased by 8 percent at public flagship universities. The analysis, by a nonprofit organization, Class Action, concludes that those schools were among institutions that benefited as a result of higher rejection rates for Black and Hispanic students at the nation’s 50 most selective schools.”

“At those top 50 schools, Black freshmen enrollment was down by 27 percent and Latino enrollment down by 10 percent.”