Brown says it is “carefully reviewing” new Department of Education guidance banning the use of federal work-study aid to pay students who help register voters on campus. The guidance could spark fresh uncertainty over Brown’s get-out-the-vote efforts to increase turnout ahead of the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election.
The three-page memo, signed by then-Acting Assistant Secretary of Education Christopher McCaghren on Aug. 19, reverses a Biden-era policy allowing institutions to pay eligible student workers to assist with voter registration using federal work-study financial aid.
“Federal Work-Study is meant to provide students opportunities to gain real-world experience that prepares them to succeed in the workforce, not as a way to fund political activism on our college and university campuses,” said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent in an Aug. 19 press release announcing the guidance.
In an Aug. 26 email to The Herald, University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote that Brown is “carefully reviewing the guidance and will make any necessary adjustments” to the University’s “current policies and practices to ensure compliance.”
The Higher Education Act of 1965 requires institutions to take steps to promote student voter registration, and dipping into federal work-study aid was one way colleges have funded these initiatives, said Jill Desjean, the director of policy analysis at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
On College Hill, Brown Votes — a student-led civic engagement initiative housed within the Swearer Center for Public Service — typically employs work-study eligible students to support voter registration efforts ahead of presidential elections, according to Rosie Shultz ’27, a member of Brown Votes’s civic engagement team.
But now, under the new guidance, schools may need to fund these initiatives’ employees with non-work study funds, Desjean said.
Shultz said that Swearer staff are engaged in ongoing discussions about the best path forward.
During the last academic year, 37% of undergraduate students on financial aid at Brown had federal work-study included in their aid offer, The Herald previously reported. Jobs found through work-study are similar to other jobs on campus, but the wages for work-study jobs are funded in part by the federal government.
The new guidance “is impactful, and it could make a difference in a bunch of races around the country, especially local races where student voter registration drives can be very consequential,” said Jim Newberry, who co-chairs the Higher Education Team at the law firm Steptoe and Johnson.
The Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
Shultz emphasized that even in the face of the new guidance, Brown Votes will continue their voter registration initiatives. “We have students that are on payroll,” she said. “We have students that are not on payroll that are just as dedicated to this work. And it is something we will absolutely continue to do.”
Ethan Schenker is a university news editor covering staff and student labor. He is from Bethesda, MD, and plans to study International and Public Affairs and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and clicking on New York Times notifications.
