Two steps forward, one step back: shifting political policies cause uncertainty for students amidst 1890 scholarship suspension

By Jessica Schnur  Over the past week, the USDA’s Department of Agriculture website had posted a temporary suspension of the 1890 National Scholars Program until the evening of Feb. 24. The banner atop the scholarship’s overview detailed that the program had been “pending further review,” with no insight provided on the reasons for nor the timeline of the suspension. The suspension announcement circulated amid the recent federal freezes in research funding and rollbacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies under the Trump administration.  The 1890 National Scholars Program provides pathways to education for students in rural and underserved communities. The scholarship includes tuition, books, fees, and room and board for students of historically Black land-granted colleges and universities (HBCUs) looking to study agricultural and natural resource sciences.   Since the scholarship’s founding in 1992, its goals serve to support the USDA’s Next Generation program. A National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) initiative, in 2023 NextGen focused on fostering the future of the nation’s agricultural stability by extending greater investments for accessible and more diversified educational opportunities. In 2024, the 1890 program awarded 94 scholarships to students in these institutions.   In a press release on Feb. 20, Congresswoman Alma Adams...