Fall 2026 Talking Points for College Presidents: Considerations for Beginning the Academic Year

This resource aims to help college and university presidents open the 2026-27 academic year with a clear, nonpartisan message on student voting and guidance to help plan for potential federal budget decisions and legislative changes and trends affecting academic freedom, governance, and fair opportunity. This document is grounded in up-to-date guidance from partner organizations and the Alliance for Higher Education’s institutional risk frameworks.

Key Resources for Voter Engagement on Campus

ACE Issue Brief: Voting and College Political Campaign–Related Activities in America's 250th Year — The American Council on Education's updated 2026 guidance on institutional obligations, nonpartisan voter education, and political-activity boundaries for the 2026 midterm cycle.

2026 Nonpartisan Student Voter Engagement Guide: Kick-off tools and resources — a practical checklist and messaging tools for campus voter engagement teams, compiled by the Students Learn, Students Vote Coalition and the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The “My Major on the Ballot” resource in particular is worth highlighting for students and faculty.

Why Emphasize Voting This Fall

• It's the law: Under the Higher Education Act, colleges and universities must make a good-faith effort to distribute voter registration forms to enrolled students. This isn't optional or political — it's a compliance obligation tied to Title IV participation.
• America's 250th anniversary gives the moment extra resonance: Framing student voting as civic participation in the nation's founding tradition, rather than as partisan activity, helps presidents open the year with an affirmative, unifying message.
• New barriers are emerging: State legislation modeled on the SAVE America Act and shifting voter-ID and residency rules make it harder for students to register and vote than in past cycles. Institutions that get ahead of this with clear, nonpartisan information reduce confusion and disenfranchisement. 

Budget Scenarios for You to Watch to Plan Ahead

The federal budget process is currently underway. In April, the White House proposed a budget that, while going nowhere, substantially cut funding for TRIO, GEAR UP, and other access and success programs and provides a clear lens of the administration’s priorities. In June, the House released a budget that expands the above programs, but proposes steep reductions in federal work study. The House and Senate will ultimately negotiate a budget and components like the above programs will continue to be moving pieces.

The Alliance has developed a messaging and planning tool for campus leaders to track budget updates and also create a clear narrative to help boards, alumni, faculty, students, and local elected officials understand potential impacts.

Leading Your Campus Culture in the Context of Political Interference

Courts have repeatedly found that this administration's actions toward higher education exceed legal authority.

• State and federal intrusions have overwhelmingly lost in court and been found illegal. An April 2026 Inside Higher Ed analysis of more than 60 key higher education lawsuits against the Trump administration found the government held the upper hand in only 17 cases.
• Courts have found the administration acted unlawfully in high-profile matters affecting research funding (e.g., Harvard's $2.2 billion funding freeze, found to violate the First Amendment and proper federal procedure), DEI-related grant terminations at NIH, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness rule changes (struck down as "arbitrary and capricious").
• This pattern gives presidents a factual, non-inflammatory way to reassure their communities: Disagreement with a policy is legitimate, and the judiciary — not campus advocacy — has been the primary and largely successful check on federal overreach.

Using the Alliance's Framework in Your Talking Points

Alliance Institutional Risk Framework: Framework for Institutions — the Alliance's working tool for mapping current political and legal pressures (equity, Title IX, international/undocumented students, tenure, protest policy, and more) against institutional mission, autonomy, and culture. See "Talking Points" usage note below.

The Framework spreadsheet walks campus officials through likely pressure points — diversity statements, international and undocumented students, Title IX, tenure, protest policy, and more — against five questions: potential chilling effect on culture/trust, impact on institutional autonomy, impact on belonging, connection to mission, and whether pending legislation or litigation should inform timing.

• Before drafting fall remarks, run your top 2–3 anticipated flashpoints through the framework with your leadership team to pressure-test language. Identification of topics where "we're waiting on litigation" is itself the honest, defensible answer is also critical.
• Use the framework's mission-connection column to anchor any public statement: Presidents are on strongest ground when voting and civic-engagement messaging is tied explicitly to institutional mission rather than to any candidate, party, or contested policy fight.

Prepared by the Alliance for Higher Education. This resource is for internal planning purposes and does not constitute legal advice; consult institutional counsel before finalizing public statements.

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