Trump's Federal Work Study Crackdown Ends Taxpayer-Funded Activism

As the 2026 midterms approach, President Donald Trump is refusing to let universities continue operating as unregulated Democrat voter factories. By reversing a Biden-era rule that allowed universities to use Federal Work Study (FWS) funds to pay students to register voters, the Trump administration is ensuring student aid does what it's meant to do—prepare tomorrow's workforce.

In a "Dear Colleague" letter, the Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education reminded universities that the department's regulations prohibit FWS funds from funding political activity. 

"Jobs involving partisan or nonpartisan voter registration, voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker . . . involve political activity because these activities support the process of voting which is a quintessential political activity whereby voters formally support partisan or nonpartisan political candidates by casting ballots," the letter noted.

Additionally, the department's letter emphasized that universities must avoid any action that could aid non-citizen registration—a potential threat given the nearly two million international students enrolled at American universities. 

Universities are already required by federal law to make mail voter registration forms widely available to students. Using FWS funds to pay students to provide free voter registration labor to nonprofits is unnecessary and a recipe for partisan abuse.

Subsidizing the Ground Game

The FWS program aims to help low-income students find work on campus. This allows them to devote more time to their studies by reducing commute times and offering positions with shifts that work around their class schedules. Many work at on-campus dining, the library, and with grounds crews. 

Initially, FWS was a win for both universities and students. Former President Joe Biden, however, saw the program as an opportunity to mobilize potential Democrat voters. In a 2022 letter, his administration erroneously claimed, "Postsecondary institutions play a critical role in promoting and supporting participation in the electoral process." The letter asserted that universities could use FWS funds to pay directly employed students to register voters on campus. 

While even that arrangement would amount to a gross abuse of taxpayer dollars and a perversion of the program's original intent, what occurred in practice was far worse. The students often worked for nonprofits that specialized in registering voters. And despite their claims of nonpartisanship, almost all of these organizations, including the Campus Vote Project, were funded indirectly by Democrat megadonors.

Nonprofits as Political Middlemen

Nonprofit voter registration, with the legally defined charitable role of boosting "civic participation," has become a big business for Democrat activists. 

After losing the 2004 election, Democrats' fundraisers and mega donors turned to nonprofit voter registration as a way to save on taxes and slide under the radar. And by focusing their efforts on highly-engaged, left-leaning demographics, such as college students, they can spend less time persuading voters and more time registering them. Getting the taxpayers to fund these operations to register "people of color" and other likely Democrats was just a bonus.

Especially troubling was Tufts University's National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), a massive database tracking student voting patterns across more than 1,200 campuses. When schools enroll in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge—a project of former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett—they're automatically enrolled in NSLVE.

Last year, former Republican Illinois House candidate Desi Anderson raised concerns that NSLVE shares students' personal and voting information with third parties, including Catalist, the data firm that services the Democratic Party.

Purpose Restored

Taxpayers' representatives enacted FWS to help working students focus more easily on their studies and become productive members of society upon graduation. Abusing this program to provide free labor to Democrat donors' preferred vote factories is unethical, and now, thanks to Trump, illegal.

As Education Department spokesperson Ellen Keast rightly stated, "Our educational institutions should focus on providing students with real-world, workforce-oriented experiences, not engaging in political activism aimed at influencing elections." 

Democrats frame this as an attempt at voter suppression. But this is simply getting taxpayer dollars away from ideological organizations that abuse the system to skirt campaign finance laws.

Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, now leading Young America's Foundation, noted that conservatives aren't afraid of young voters; they're concerned when those voters hear only one biased narrative from liberal faculty and staff.

The Trump administration's decision to end the misuse of FWS funds for Democrat voter mobilization returns the student aid program to its intended purpose. Taxpayers never signed up to bankroll partisan get-out-the-vote operations disguised as civic engagement, and universities never had the right to offer such services. Restoring integrity to federal student aid programs sends a clear message that government resources exist to serve students and taxpayers, not to help Democrat mega donors get more bang for their political buck.

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