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Anti-Poverty & Basic Needs

Student Defense Launches the Benefits Rollback Tracker to Protect Students’ Basic Needs From Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Agenda

Student Defense announced today that it will monitor the Trump Administration's attempts to cut federal programs that benefit students seeking higher education. These efforts will be shared with student and advocacy organizations, State Attorneys General, Members of Congress, and other impact litigation organizations to coordinate resistance against expected attempts at regulatory rollbacks of benefits for millions of hard-working students.

This call to action provides a high-level overview of where Student Defense is ready and willing to assist policymakers, advocates, and states looking at their legal authorities and strategies. Initial Trump Administration efforts are anticipated in areas that include:

  • Work Requirements: The Project 2025 blueprint proposes work requirement expansions across SNAP, Medicaid, and TANF programs. While Medicaid changes would require Congressional approval, the previous Trump Administration already tried and failed to narrow state waivers of SNAP work requirements. In addition to renewing that effort, it would likely seek to expand TANF work requirements beyond cash benefits to apply to all benefits offered by states.
  • SNAP Categorical Eligibility: Previously, the Trump administration proposed narrowing TANF categorical eligibility rules that allowed applicants to automatically access SNAP even if they only qualified for limited non-cash TANF benefits. The rule was not finalized before the end of the first Trump administration, but will likely return during the second Trump term.
  • Roll Back the Thrifty Food Plan Recalculation: Project 2025 criticized the Biden administration’s rewrite of the Thrifty Food Plan which requires the USDA to periodically evaluate the cost of a basket of foods needed for a healthy diet. The Trump administration could attempt to reverse the modernization effort resulting in smaller SNAP benefits.
  • “Heat and Eat” Standards under SNAP: SNAP recipients who also receive Low-Income Heat and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) benefits get a larger utility deduction and thus higher benefits. Project 2025 calls for further restricting eligibility rules in this area.