By Will Gilson, Currier Times Staff///

On January 28th, 2025, the Trump Administration put a freeze on federal funding. It was later lifted 48 hours after being temporarily blocked by a judge.  But the fallout from the frenzy now has students and Higher Ed officials on edge.

Following the freeze, Stephanny Elias, Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management at Curry, sent out a message informing the community about the issue and what Curry’s response would be.

While there was uncertainty, Elias and the college focused on one thing: communication.

“We immediately began communicating with our students, their families and faculty and staff based on what we knew,” Elias said. “We also put a notice on www.curry.edu and updated it as more information was known.”

One of the main questions during the freeze from Elias was what the future of financial aid would look like.

“What does this mean for federal financial aid?” Elias said. “And then I immediately began researching to obtain answers for our students and families and the college.”

The freeze shocked the student body. Sophomore Early Education and Care major, Maeve Mitchell, mentioned how stopping services like FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) might impact students.

“Concerns I have is what other people use FAFSA and how it can be important to some people,” Mitchell said.

However, despite the freeze, Elias mentioned that student loans, bill payments, and Pell Grants would be protected under Title IV funding.

“We were not losing any Title IV (TIV)  funding per clarification from the federal government after the initial Order broke in the news,” Elias said. “TIV is federally funded financial aid composed of grants, loans and work.”

While Pell Grants were protected, the future of Work Study remained uncertain.

“We are awaiting clarification on the continued funding of Federal Work Study and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) Grant funds,” Elias said.

The student reaction was also full of uncertainty about Federal Work Study. Grace Grosso, a junior Exercise Science major, said that while she doesn’t know anyone on Federal Work Study, she expressed concern about its future at the college.

“I guess I would have concerns for it if it meant that we couldn’t offer Federal Work Studies for students on campus,” Grosso said. “I would be pretty concerned cause I know a lot of students really need their work studies to make income and have money when they live on campus.”

The rest of the country outside Higher Education expresses the same reaction as Grosso. Several nonprofit organizations, including Meals on Wheels feared that the freeze would halt funding for their programs geared towards providing healthy food for seniors.

In terms of families being informed, Elias says that they have the same level of confusion about financial aid.

“Certainly, confusion reigned across the country briefly on what did or did not qualify for the freeze until clarifications were made,” Elias said.