Elite universities in the United States are between a rock and a hard place. The students, faculty, administrations, and boards have, over the years, adopted a progressive political stance. For the most part, this stance has been either ignored or lauded by the government. During this time, universities have become financially intertwined with the government through grants and financial aid.
Now, for the first time, these universities are facing a strong government adversary in President Trump. They cannot give up the billions that they receive from the government without destroying their reputation and their mission of advancing research. But they are unwilling to give up the ideologically progressive mission that they have adopted over the last century.
While I believe that the elite universities need a reset with regard to their educational mission, the big news is the volatility of their relationship with government funding. They believed that that relationship was solid and would continue unchanged. They saw no need to worry. Now, they are discovering what many conservative schools have known for some time: relationships with the government have strings attached. The stronger the national polarization, the less trustworthy those strings become.
No doubt, the presidency will again shift left someday, and the government will leverage federal dollars to impose new requirements on conservative institutions. To the extent that universities and colleges depend for their existence on a rapidly changing political situation, their missions are vulnerable.
Gutenberg College remains untethered from government funds. We do not take student federal or state financial aid or grants, even though we are authorized to do so. The government cannot threaten us with a withdrawal of funding. We are still subject to regulations through accreditation and the state legislature—we cannot fully decouple from government—however, such regulatory processes are easier to navigate than dealing with federal funding.
Gutenberg has a distinctive mission that challenges the current higher education orthodoxy by prioritizing learning to live life well before God over political and economic goals. I did not predict the aggressiveness of the government regarding higher education, but I am thankful to all of our students and donors who have made it possible for Gutenberg to retain its independence.
This article first appeared in the Winter 2026 issue of Colloquy, Gutenberg College’s free quarterly newsletter. Subscribe here.
