Published on : May 6, 2025
Aloha, CSWE 'ohana:
I have been thinking about social work education’s role in the world we currently inhabit, and I am reminded of the words of Margaret Mead, who said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” In these increasingly uncertain times, our commitment to the preparation of social work students and a workforce that is well-equipped to serve everyone necessitates action. The social work commitment to achieving positive outcomes for healthy individuals, families, and communities requires advocacy. This is where you come in.
Congress is continuing its effort to pass a large tax bill that proposes significant cuts to higher education spending. Recently, the House Education and Workforce Committee approved a series of legislative proposals, which they are calling “The Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan,” that would cut federal higher education funding by $330 billion. Additional proposals are being generated and considered in other House Committees that will affect the mission of social work education, including potential cuts to Medicaid. These proposals are part of a larger process and CSWE members can make a difference on the outcome by sharing their views as the process continues.
As social work educators and leaders, CSWE encourages members to contact their members of Congress to express their positions on the proposed cuts to higher education student aid. Visit Congress.gov to identify your members of Congress in both the House and the Senate. Members can express their concerns with some of the proposals, including:
- eliminating subsidized student loans for undergraduate students,
- eliminating Grad PLUS loans for graduate students,
- limiting the availability of federal student aid to the national median cost of specific programs, and
- creating an institutional risk-sharing process that would penalize institutions of higher education.
CSWE is in the process of developing an Advocacy Resource Hub, hosted on our website. While still in its infancy, there are a variety of resources from organizations and individuals in higher education and related groups. We invite you to visit the Advocacy Resource Hub and explore toolkits, templates, media coverage, suggested reading lists, data, and more, collected for social work educators’ educational and advocacy efforts.
As I reflect on all that has happened these first days of May, I am reminded of the truism that knowledge is power. That is, we know the mission of higher education is that of discovery, creation, and dissemination of knowledge. We know that higher education is still our best bet and the space where critical thinking is cultivated and nurtured. We know that higher education is where talents are developed and flow into the pipeline, growing the workforce of the future. We know that social work education is an integral part of higher education’s mission, the workforce pipeline, and the global socio-cultural-political economy.
We, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), are 890 accredited social work programs strong, excluding programs in candidacy and pre-candidacy. Of these programs, 255 are minority-serving institutions, including 140 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), 70 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), 66 Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), nine predominantly Black institutions (PBIs), seven Alaska Native-serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNHIs), five Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTIs), and three Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). Together, we can advocate for policies and regulations that protect the mission of higher education and publicly demonstrate the commitment of social workers and social work educators to the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities.
With gratitude,
Halaevalu F. Ofahengaue Vakalahi, PhD, MSW
CSWE President and CEO
Hartford Faculty Scholar, Fulbright Senior Scholar, CSWE-MFP Fellow