Financial Aid’s Foggy Future
Liam Knox
November 14, 2024
Whatever happens to the Education Department, Trump’s second term could have major implications for federal financial aid—and the students who rely on it.
For all the political oxygen that higher education consumed during Donald Trump’s four years out of office, the once and future president has yet to put forth a comprehensive policy agenda on postsecondary education for his second term—including how he’ll approach federal financial aid and programs to ease postsecondary access.
He has called for the abolition of the Education Department, a move that would relegate most financial aid responsibilities to the states and strand a massive federal operation with no home. Some have suggested that the Office of Federal Student Aid and its 1,500-plus employees, responsible for enacting federal aid and student loan policy, could be rehoused in the Treasury Department.
A half dozen experts who spoke with Inside Higher Ed agreed that dismantling the Education Department is an implausible outcome. What’s more likely, they said, is that Trump and a Republican-dominated Congress will advance significant cuts to the Education Department’s funding, and to financial aid programs in particular.
