This is largely preaching to the choir. But it’s absent enough from the news coverage that is worth stating clearly. Most right-thinking people are aghast at Trump’s onslaught on higher education. The range of reasons is endlessly discussed and doesn’t need to be enumerated here. But through those discussions is the subtext that higher education is dependent on federal subsidies. There is some truth to this when it comes to Pell grants and backstopping student loans. But with grants to fund scientific research it turns the reality on its head. It’s the federal government which is the initiator here, both historically and also in terms of the on-going dynamic of grant-making.