Republican budget bill would jeopardize college funding for 150,000 low-income Texas students

The massive Republican spending bill now under consideration by the U.S. Senate would slash $330 billion in education funding, resulting in massive losses for Texas students who rely on federal aid for tuition assistance.

The Senate is advancing a version of the proposal that puts 150,000 Texas students at risk of losing their Pell Grants by changing eligibility requirements, equality-in-higher-education advocacy group EdTrust cautions in its latest analysis. Pell awards, which are set aside for those with exceptional financial need, are typically considered the foundation of U.S. college students’ financial aid packages.

Beyond decimating Pell access, the budget bill could kick 181,000 Lone Star state college students off the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as Food Stamps, according to EdTrust. Another 170,000 Lone Star State scholars also would lose access to Medicaid.

The Senate version of the legislation tones down some of the House’s most controversial changes to student aid, including denying access to Pell Grants for a large swath of part-time students and forcing colleges to cough up penalties on students’ unpaid loans. Even so, experts caution the upper chamber’s bill will limit low-income Americans’ ability to access college educations.

“This bill is an improvement from the House’s version, and we acknowledge that the Senate listened to the higher education community,” Emmanual Guillory, senior director of government relations at the American Council on Education, told trade publication Inside Higher Ed. Still, overall, “this bill is still going to have an impact on access to postsecondary education, and that will be reduced access for low-income students.”

According to EdTrust’s report, the proposed budget cuts also could result in:

• More than 313,000 Texas students having their Pell awards dropped by nearly $1,500 due to increased requirements to qualify for full-time attendance.
• A loss in grant aid of between $353 million to $493 million statewide, which would be most damaging to working students, parenting students, students with disabilities and incarcerated students.
• Serious damage in enrollment to Texas’ community colleges, since the eligibility requirements would affect more than 78% of students attending part-time community colleges around the state.

EdTrust officials are asking individuals and organizations to sign an online letter no later than the end of the day Thursday, June 26, asking the Texas congressional delegation to reject the education cuts. 

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This article appears in Jun 12-25, 2025.