President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order to “take all necessary steps” to close the Department of Education (DoE). This is the first step in his attempt to fulfill the campaign promise to eliminate the department that he claims spends “more than $1 trillion without producing virtually any improvement in student reading and mathematics scores.”
Eliminating the Department of Education, however, would require congressional approval, even with an executive order, which would be highly unlikely. Despite this, the Trump administration can still take other steps to weaken the agency, such as ending programs and cutting staff.
The push for the dismantling of the department comes as concerns about government oversight, supposed indoctrination in schools, and inflating budgets continue to rise. While it is unlikely that the DoE as a whole will be abolished, substantial changes may be made. These may include personnel and programs being moved to other departments to lessen the department’s oversight.
Concerns have also been raised over the DoE’s lack of communication during Trump’s previous administration and what that might mean for various colleges and universities.
Dismantling the department could significantly impact students and the institutions they attend. The DoE is responsible for billions of dollars sent to institutions of higher education and students each year. The FAFSA program directly subsidizes the tuition of more than six million low-income students, $100 billion of that in student loans and $30 billion in Pell grants.
In addition, over 5,000 colleges and universities utilize federal financial aid. The dismantling of the DoE does not mean that federal student aid programs such as FAFSA would come to an end. Experts say that these programs would most likely be overseen by other federal agencies or the states themselves. One likely candidate for federal student loan oversight is the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which might take over from the ED.
It is unlikely that Pell Grants will be affected due to bipartisan support for them, but there may be consequences for programs such as work-study or public service loan forgiveness. This also marks a shift in how federal aid is being allocated as the government shifts from providing aid directly to the institutions to allow more competition for other higher education institutes to receive funding.
Some experts raise concerns that eliminating the Education Department could negatively affect institutions that rely more heavily on government funding, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Here in Pennsylvania, the DoE manages college loans for nearly two million Pennsylvanians and provides more than $1.6 billion annually to our schools, primarily in needy communities.
According to the Department of Education, more than 1.86 million Pennsylvanians hold a collective total of $67.5 billion in federal student debt. Changes to these loans could have a huge impact on the commonwealth.
