Recently, Donald Trump has been talking about eliminating the Department of Education (DOE). He has already taken the first step towards doing that, having announced that half of the department’s staff would be laid off as part of Elon Musk’s spending cuts. Like many of the cuts made by Elon’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), cutting DOE would be extremely reckless and result in extreme chaos. However, eliminating the Department of Education would be even worse than any of the cuts that we have seen so far. To show just how bad of an idea this is, here are some of the things that the department handles.
The Department of Education handles student loans for a large percentage of the population. Over 42 million Americans have some level of student loan debt handled by DOE. If the Education Department is eliminated, new students would not be able to get loans. This would make access to higher education unaffordable for millions of people. It would also generate extreme confusion among those who already have student loans about how to pay them back, as the department which receives their payments would no longer exist.
In addition to handling student loans, DOE also gives out financial aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The Office of Federal Student Aid, which is part of DOE and handles FAFSA, doled out more than $120 billion in funding and loans to students across the country. Like with loans, the elimination of funding for student aid will make college less affordable for millions of students. According to data from the Department of Education, 87.3% of all undergraduate students have some form of financial aid, which is around 17 million students in total. Currently, 68% of students say that affording college is a struggle for them or their family. If federal aid were to suddenly become unavailable, as it would under Trump’s executive order, many of those students would be forced to drop out completely. Under Trump’s proposed executive order, the U.S. would return to an era before the Great Depression, when college was only for the rich and career opportunities that required it were closed off from the poor and working class.
The effects on the financial situation of students would be devastating. It would be equally devastating on the universities themselves. As I’ve mentioned, many students would have to drop out. Many others who might apply would be unable to attend. Colleges rely on the tuition funding from their students to pay their expenses. A massive decline in the number of students able to attend would result in a massive decline in the budget of most universities. This would lead to layoffs of faculty and staff, the elimination of key services and increased difficulty providing non-federal aid to students, making the college experience both worse and less affordable. Because universities rely on alumni donations, a massive decrease in enrollment would lead not just to a temporary budgetary crisis that gets resolved when enrollment gets back up, but instead would create a permanent one where there are fewer donors willing and able to give to schools. As we have covered extensively in The Hoot, Brandeis is already in the midst of a difficult financial crisis. The loss of funding from DOE would potentially put Brandeis’ financial situation over the edge, leading to catastrophic consequences for students and faculty.
The consequences of eliminating the Department of Education would not be purely financial. DOE also provides important services such as investigating reports of discrimination at schools and universities. At a time when hate is increasing across the country, this is more critical than ever. Under previous administrations, DOE had investigated schools for racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. In one instance under the Biden administration, DOE investigated a Pennsylvania high school where a group of white students formed a “Kool Kids Klub” and told a Black student to “go pick cotton.” School administrators found that there was no problem with these activities. DOE stepped in and required school officials to undergo training and review other instances of harassment reports to fix the problem.
Under the Trump administration, these types of investigations have stopped. Instead, the department is focused on investigations into schools’ approach to trans rights. Not transphobia. Trans rights. They are investigating a school in Denver because it has a gender-neutral bathroom. They are investigating schools in Minnesota and California because they allow transgender athletes to play sports. Meanwhile, reports from students and parents of situations of actual discrimination like the one in Pennsylvania get ignored. The department is also investigating a school in Ithaca, New York for hosting a Students of Color Summit. Donald Trump’s Department of Education has stopped focusing on preventing discrimination and is instead choosing to cause it.
The Department of Education also ensures that students with disabilities are able to have access to educational opportunities. Eight percent of K-12 students have some kind of disability that requires a special education plan. If DOE is eliminated, many of these students will not have equal access to education. The Department of Education provides billions of dollars to schools to create programs for students with disabilities. These programs allow students with certain disabilities to have a separate learning environment. If DOE is eliminated, students with disabilities would be put in classes with non-disabled students. The result would be that students with learning disabilities would be expected to learn at the same pace as everyone else, students with sensory disabilities would be put into large classes full of distractions and students with physical disabilities would be forced to watch as their classmates participate in activities that they are unable to do. DOE also has programs designed to help students with disabilities transition from school to the real world. However, these programs have already been paused by Elon’s DOGE team because they included the word transition. If DOE is eliminated, students with disabilities will have far fewer opportunities in the future than they do now.
One other important thing that the Department of Education does is collect education data. If the Department of Education were to be eliminated, that data collection would stop. This may not seem as important as allowing millions of students to attend college or stopping high schools from having a KKK club or ensuring access for students with disabilities, but it’s still important. The reason we know how many students receive aid or what percentage of students have a disability was because of the data released by DOE. States and cities use that data to determine their education budgets. Schools use that data to assess how they compare to other schools across the country. Colleges use that data to determine what they need to offer in non-federal aid funding. If that data is no longer available, the negative effects on education will not be as immediate as 68% of students being unable to afford tuition or schools turning a blind eye toward discrimination and harassment, but they will be just as impactful.
Eliminating the Department of Education would be a disastrous decision with far-reaching consequences. From student loans and financial aid to protecting students from discrimination and ensuring access to education for those with disabilities, the DOE plays a vital role in making education accessible and equitable for all. The financial devastation alone would leave millions of students unable to afford college, force universities into crisis and push higher education back to an era where it was only available to the wealthy. Beyond finances, the loss of DOE would remove critical protections against discrimination, halt important programs for students with disabilities and eliminate essential data that guides education policy nationwide.
Donald Trump’s plan to dismantle the Department of Education is not just reckless—it’s an attack on the future of millions of students and the integrity of the American education system itself. If this plan moves forward, the result will be a more unequal society where access to education is determined by wealth and privilege rather than merit and ambition. We must recognize the immense value of the DOE and fight against efforts to erase the progress it has made in ensuring education for all.
