Regaining the White House is only a few months away for a second Trump administration. Furthermore, all three arms of the federal government of the United States are under the control of MAGA Republicans. As a result, a lot of parents are concerned about Black college students’ lives.
Some parents were still unsure of their answers when asked how they thought life would be for Black college students in 2025. Others had a better idea of what was about to happen.
That’s an excellent query. To be honest, I’m not sure. Kali Moore, a parent of a child getting ready to start college, said, “I don’t know that a lot of people know.” In my opinion, it creates an atmosphere of uncertainty for both ourselves and our future generations.
Moore thinks that in order to support their children, parents will have to put in a lot of effort.
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In order to help our children navigate through that uncertainty, we will need to teach and mentor them. How to respond to some of the inquiries that will be made. Keep them focused on succeeding and attempt to locate the resources and support that will be available to them to help them succeed. attempt to foresee some of the questions that will be asked.
And as of right now, we have no idea what it looks like. And as a parent, I find that to be one of the things that is a little unnerving,” Moore continued.
HBCU vs PWI IMPACT
Latasha Mills has two kids, one of whom is a freshman at Tulane University and will be starting college in two more years. In contrast to Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), she thinks the Trump administration will have a distinct effect on HBCUs.
“I anticipate a significant surge in HBCU applications,” Mills added. The only significant concern for non-HBCU institutions is their desire to eliminate federal support for public education.
Pell Grants, loans, and other forms of assistance that low-income and minority students require will be eliminated as a result.
Because of this, she thinks Black high school students who are headed to college are giving HBCUs significant consideration, such as her youngest daughter, who her mother says aspires to be a Spelman girl.
LESSER QUALITY INSTRUCTION
Tiffany Smith-Walker is in a rare position to view this problem from several perspectives.
In addition to teaching nursing school, she is a college lecturer. She has a 15-year-old son who is currently enrolled at Prairie View A&M University and another who will be there in a few years.
Smith-Walker said, “I believe that college life and experience will be more challenging and difficult in many ways.” As if the experience of children entering after COVID wasn’t challenging enough, we’re about to discover much more. In particular, I think that they will need to put in more effort to get the grades they require since I think that the instructors’ appearance and the knowledge they bring to the institution will change.
THE FUTURE IS NOW
According to businessman Timothy Butts, his youngest son, who is presently enrolled in graduate school, is already observing the future of college campuses.
According to my son’s opinion, folks who were a little quiet about the political atmosphere witnessed a lot of people laughing, slapping one other on the back, and other such actions after the election was over, Butts added. He was rather taken aback because, to be honest, some people weren’t publicly demonstrating their support. However, he witnessed certain people—what I refer to as closet conservatives—coming out as quite antagonistic after the incident.
Butts thinks that having a strong sense of self-worth is one way Black college students can defend themselves.
It is essential that kids understand who they are, their past, their values, their beliefs, the reason they are in school, and their goals. In this manner, they avoid becoming sidetracked. In this manner, he continued, they can have an effect in the right way and one that would truly have meaning.
However, concerns regarding the challenges Black pupils may face in the spring of 2025 are not limited to parents.
Both public officials and college administrators worry that Black students will have a less encouraging and even dangerous time at campus.
DEFUNDED HBCUs
Arne Duncan, a current Howard University Board of Trustee and former Obama administration education secretary, told TheGrio that a colorblind, raceless strategy to end racism is sure to fail Black pupils. Duncan worries that the new Trump government will significantly reduce financing for HBCUs.
Duncan’s apprehension stems from the actions of Steve Bannon, a close aide to Trump during his first time in office.
Bannon contended that expanding HBCU funding would violate the Constitution because it would discriminate against other races and nationalities, specifically white people. Trump has so far stated that he is making amends to white people by punishing colleges and universities who use DEI in their operations and teach any version of history that he disapproves of. This was after he won the election on November 5.
voiced concerns about HBCU funding during a second Trump presidency.
CAMPUS VIOLENCE UPTICK
Professor Shaun Harper of the University of Southern California has a more pessimistic outlook for the future.
Racist text messages were sent to Black students nationwide the day after Donald Trump was re-elected as president of the United States. Ten days after the 2016 presidential election, the same thing occurred: According to Harper’s piece for Inside Higher Ed, black freshmen at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) received messages over GroupMe threatening to lynch them.
At the time of that lynching threat, Harper was a professor at Penn.
One sign of what is likely to happen on college and university campuses during the next four years is that it occurred again, this time on a wider national scale. “As I argued at Penn eight years ago, I still believe that Black students need to be shielded from anti-Blackness and other racist experiences,” he continued.
Harper urges college administrators across the country to take the initiative to provide Black students and others who might experience more attacks and discrimination with protections and assistance. He argues that waiting for violent eruptions will endanger lives and expose a generation of youth to trauma that will last a lifetime.
Additionally, he thinks that under Trump 2.0, the Biden-Harris Title IX legislative progress will be reversed.
Black female college students in particular will suffer from this. Additionally, transphobic discourse and regulations will impact Black trans and genderqueer students, including but not limited to sports. Notably, among transgender Americans, Black trans women experience the highest rates of homicide; their lives will be at greater risk if there are no federal safeguards on college campuses.
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