Tim Tai

On March 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that urged for the dismantling of the Department of Education. The decision follows a recent reduction in the department’s workforce by around 50 percent, with members of staff being placed on administrative leave beginning March 21. 

However, the DOE can only be formally closed through an act of Congress. The department’s congressionally mandated services and programs — such as data collection — are required by law and would have to be provided regardless of the department’s standing. 

The Trump administration has said that these responsibilities will be reallocated to other federal departments, citing the DOE’s cost, decreasing testing scores amongst children and the efficiency of student loan programs in the March executive order. 

The News spoke with experts in higher education and educational policy, discussing the department’s relationship to private universities and how a reduction in the DOE’s operating capacity — as well as its potential closure — could impact institutions such as Yale. 

Student Loans & Grants 

The Department of Education oversees an over $1.6 trillion student loan debt portfolio for students providing this financial support to approximately 43.2 million students. It determines student eligibility as well as the amount of financial support offered to recipients. 

The department uses a standardized formula to determine the amount, distributing student loans and grants — including Pell Grants — directly to borrowers and recipients. It also sends the information acquired through the formula to colleges and universities, allowing the institution to determine how much financial support it will independently provide. 

The Trump administration has said that financial aid would not be impacted by cuts to the department. Last Friday, Trump announced plans to move the federal student loan portfolio from the DOE to the Small Business Administration.

However, Bryan J. Cook — the director for higher education policy in the Work, Education, and Labor Division at the Urban Institute, a think-tank based in D.C. — noted that this shift could complicate student access to aid. 

“Imagine what happens if you move that to a completely new agency for oversight who’s never had to manage applications for federal financial aid,” Cook said. “I don’t know that it is going to necessarily be a smooth transition.”

The privatization of student loans was also promoted in Project 2025, an outline of Trump’s second presidential term published by the Conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. This change would mark a change from the Higher Education Act of 1965, which established the federal government as the primary provider of student loans as opposed to banks. 

Sara Partridge, associate director for Higher Education at the Center for American Progress, noted that student loans are uncollateralized. If an individual fails to pay a car loan or mortgage, there is an asset — a car or home — that can be repossessed; this is not the case for student loans. 

She noted that banks may be hesitant to provide financing for a student that they “deemed risky.” Partridge added that individuals who appear to pose a higher risk may face worse repayment terms, such as higher interest rates. 

“Federal financial aid is really an access tool so that people from all backgrounds can afford to attend college,” she said. “We can see how [privatization] could make access to higher education very unequal. … There would definitely be concerns that some people would not be able to get loans at all”

Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis told the News that the situation’s volatility made him unable to make predictions; however, he did expect that there will be “some decline in funding for higher education, including research, in the coming year.”

Enforcement of civil rights law

The Department of Education also oversees the enforcement of civil rights laws on college and university campuses through the Office of Civil Rights. Around 45 percent of the OCR has been placed on administrative leave in recent layoffs. Seven of its 12 regional offices — which conduct civil rights investigations into schools, interviewing students and faculty — were closed. 

Jennifer Berkshire, co-author of “The Education Wars” and Bloch Lecturer in Education Journalism at Yale, noted that although the majority of complaints received by the DOE from parents of kids with disabilities at the K-12 level, the DOE’s focus has shifted away from these investigations. 

“Those complaints are now on hold. [The administration is] basically saying that their priority is going to be to investigate what they consider reverse discrimination, antisemitism, and then examples of gender ideology,” said Berkshire. 

The department recently opened two investigations into antisemitism on Yale’s campus. 

Berkshire noted that unlike in previous administrations, the department has begun investigations on the basis of news stories — as opposed to complaints filed by individuals. She pointed to an investigation into gender neutral bathrooms at a Denver high school as a recent example. 

Over a dozen research grants to Princeton University were put on hold on Tuesday. The Trump administration said that the institution had not sufficiently complied with its priorities or attempted to combat antisemitism. Columbia and UPenn are also facing federal funding cuts. 

Professor of Law and Educational Practice at Teachers College at Columbia University, Michael A. Rebell, noted that the OCR’s operations have been “severely” curtailed. He said that if the department were eliminated, the administration would delegate civil rights complaints and investigations to another branch of the federal government, such as the Department of Justice. 

“It won’t be the same robust operation, that’s for sure,” he said. “The Civil Rights activity of the federal government under this administration is not likely to be any late years proactive on racial discrimination claims at any level as past administrations.”

Data collection

The Department of Education is required by Congress to collect data from all colleges and universities that receive federal funds. According to Cook, the data provides insight into higher education, with the information often helping policymakers not only to assess the effectiveness of institutions, but of federal policy. 

Partridge pointed to the Institute of Education Sciences as an example, noting that the organization’s National PostSecondary Student Aid study — conducted over multiple years — provides data into student loans, as well as the education and employment outcomes of students enrolled in a four year degree. 

“In terms of [the data] required by law, it’s things like student enrollment by race, graduation rates, cost of attendance — tuition and fees, books, supplies, distributed federal aid so that there’s some documentation of how much Federal aid is being awarded to students and institutions,” said Cook.

Cook noted that data collection on universities and colleges that receive federal funds is a congressionally mandated function of the DOE. He emphasized that dissolving the Department of Education does not eliminate this requirement.

He said that unless Congress were to act, the federal government would need to designate these obligations to another agency. 

“There are a lot of things that are written into the law that the Department of Education is required to do,”  said Cook. “Before you can shutter the department, you’d have to figure out either where those services or programs would go or whether or not they would continue to exist.”

Access to education

Berkshire emphasized to the News that the administration’s focus appeared to be mitigating the influence of institutions including Yale, as well as limiting the number of students able to attend college and universities. 

“[The administration thinks] too many kids are going to college, too many of the wrong kids are going to college, and that places like Yale have too much influence over the culture,” said Berskhire. “They’re basically proposing a profound shift in the way that we think about who gets to go to college, but also what college is for.” 

The Department of Education began operating in 1980.

Correction, April 11: Rebell is a professor at Teachers College, not Columbia Law School.