The dismantling of America’s checks and balances continued over spring break as President Donald Trump issued yet another controversial executive order.
No, it’s not to bring down the price of eggs, but it does put the Department of Education on the chopping block.
The Trump administration’s war on students and education is hitting close, too close to home for many college students who depend on federal student loans.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, whose background is in business and World Wrestling Entertainment, was directed by Trump to start dismantling the department.
McMahon led the Small Business Administration in Trump’s last presidency. Not coincidentally, Trump then announced that the SBA would assume oversight of student loans furthering his agenda to privatize the federal government.
While officials in this administration throw darts at one government department after the other, they fail to acknowledge that dissolving the Department of Education would require an act of Congress, which hasn’t stopped McMahon from laying off half of the department’s workforce.
According to the Pew Research Center, the department had 4,209 employees in September. This represent only 0.2% of federal employees.
This raises the question of why such a small workforce is being aggressively gutted. Why leave only 2,000 employees in place given the impact it will have on students and college administrations in the coming academic year?
The federal government spends money to help students attend college. If the government is now spending less, how many students will be hurt?
In 2024, the net cost of the department’s operation was $4 billion.
This number varies yearly and increased in 2024 because of former President Joe Biden’s expanded eligibility for student loan forgiveness.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid applications, and other federal aid programs have schools scrambling to determine how this will impact Fall 2025 enrollments.
Whether it’s DEI offices in colleges or infringing on students’ civil rights. Trump’s supporters are talking about gutting Social Security,
Medicare and Medicaid, all of which are important tools that help make life easier for so many people, especially those who are low-income, blue-collar Americans trying to survive.
How will an already rocky FAFSA system deal with a shortage of workforce? Will students be able to get funding by the payment deadlines? How will funding like Pell Grants and the federal work-study program be impacted?
The Department of Education’s policies also safeguard equal access to education through its Office of Civil Rights and funds charter schools. It protects against discrimination such as sexual, disability and age discrimination, and other issues that fall under civil rights.
It oversees the college accreditation system by reviewing all federally recognized accrediting agencies, ensuring that these agencies meet standards and provides oversight for the post-accrediting system.
The University of Texas at Arlington has taken a proactive step in trying to find out more information and then, in turn, provided this information to students, staff and faculty regarding all these executive orders coming out.
They have a webpage dedicated to executive orders, and it categorizes them by which departments are affected by them and gives employees who are working at the school timely information as to how this might impact the functioning of the school.
FAFSA has been downsized due to layoffs and contract buyouts, and it currently employs only 1,400 people.
FAFSA already had glitches and delays at the start of the 2024- 2025 academic year. We could see even longer wait times during this upcoming academic year.
What we are seeing is an unprecedented overreach by the executive branch, and it’s not just the federal government but is trickling down to the state government too.
House Bill 8 ties funding for community colleges to measurable student-focused outcomes. For students, success means the ability to graduate and find a job or transfer to a university to get a bachelor’s degree.
If these cuts are made, how will students pay their loans to attend classes? If they don’t, how will the college have enough graduates to maintain funding?
Students should make sure to apply for the FAFSA as soon as possible and also reach out to their campus financial aid offices for help with the application process.
The 2025-2026 TCC Foundation Scholarship Application is open now. Students who want to apply should fill out an online application and provide one professional reference to be considered for hundreds of scholarships, with an average scholarship of $800 a semester.
Students are being left out on their own but staying informed and proactive will help minimize the impact on their educational dreams.
