5 Big Department Of Education Updates, And What Student Loan Borrowers Should Know

FORBES

Adam S. Minsky

February 17, 2025

The future of the Department of Education is at stake as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans threaten to eliminate it, or at least dramatically curtail its operations. Millions of American families planning for college, and even greater numbers of student loan borrowers, could be impacted by the resulting disruptions.

Here’s where things currently stand with the Department of Education, and what student loan borrowers and prospective college students should know.

Executive Order Will Likely Call For The Elimination Of The Department Of Education

President Trump is expected to issue an executive order calling on the Department of Education to be eliminated.

“Oh I’d like it to be closed immediately,” said Trump at a press conference last week. “Look, the Department of Education is a big con job.”

The Department of Education was created in 1979. Its operations include funding for students with disabilities, enforcement of civil rights in educational institutions, and overseeing the country’s vast student loan and federal financial aid system, including the Direct student loan program and Pell Grants.

Most legal experts agree that only Congress can authorize the elimination of the department, so any executive order by itself would probably not be sufficient. However, it’s possible that the department could diminish its own operations, or try to siphon off responsibility of certain programs to other federal departments.

Importantly, if all or part of the Department of Education is abolished, that would not eliminate the federal student loan system or abolish a student loan borrower’s repayment obligations. The Office of Federal Student Aid, which oversees the federal student loan and aid system, would likely be migrated to a different federal department. Still, student loan borrower advocacy groups have warned that this could be highly disruptive for federal student loan and aid programs.

The executive order will likely be issued within the next couple of weeks, according to recent reporting.

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