Today, the Trump administration announced the next phase of its long-telegraphed plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and transfer many of its core, statutorily-obligated responsibilities and offices to other federal agencies—an unprecedented move that threatens the stability and future of the nation’s entire higher education system.
“Today’s actions are not about efficiency. Instead, they are part of a concerted effort to weaken many of the programs and protections that Congress has established—on a bipartisan basis—that help students access, afford, and complete college,” said Bryce McKibben, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy at The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs.
Dismantling its core functions will deepen inequities, destabilize institutions, and sow chaos for the students who are simply trying to learn, work, care for their family, and pursue their dreams. At a moment when 3 in 5 students struggle to meet their basic needs, stripping away public oversight and student supports is not just misguided. It is cruel.
The Administration’s plans to move several offices, including the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), and many individual programs, to other agencies plainly violates the letter of the law, and will send students and institutions scrambling at a time of rising costs and deep instability within higher education.
It is also extremely unlikely to accomplish this Administration’s stated goal of greater efficiency. The plans announced today would force institutions to navigate four separate federal agencies, in addition to new state-level bureaucracies, in an effort to provide programming to students that is currently housed under ED. By placing programs like CCAMPIS at the Department of Health and Human Services while other student support programs are moved to the Department of Labor, and still housing student financial aid programs at a Department of Education with severely diminished capacity, this effort will lead to a more chaotic and decentralized bureaucracy, administrative confusion, and more red tape.
OPE alone manages over 60 programs dedicated to improving student success, including the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program, the Basic Needs Grant, college access programs like TRIO and GEAR UP, and Title III and Title V programs that support HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions. The Administration’s prior attempts to lay off thousands of employees charged with administering these vital, and Congressionally-mandated programs, has been disastrous for colleges and students; shifting these programs in an attempt to provide even less support will set them back even further.
Today’s announcement also follows a pattern of policymaking that will harm students and put higher education further out of reach, including:
- ED’s decision last week’s decision to effectively eliminate the Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program— the only federal program dedicated to addressing student basic needs—by reorganizing priorities under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
- The USDA’s decision last month not to tap any emergency funds to cover Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the ongoing federal government shutdown, leaving millions of low-income households — including 1.1 million college students—facing delayed or partial payments during a period of severe economic strain.
- The shuttering of critical research and oversight offices across the federal government, undermining transparency, accountability, and the ability to understand and address the real challenges students face.
- The clawback of hundreds of crucial student support grants on spurious grounds that programs were linked to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts.
- The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s deep cuts to federal student aid and public benefit programs that will force students into expensive private loans, make it more difficult to access food or health care support, and force states to cut public higher education.
Every semester, students depend on ED to deliver financial aid, administer student loans, protect their civil rights, and fund campus programs that connect them to food, housing, transportation, childcare, and other essential needs. Taken together, these actions erode the already-insufficient supports that help students navigate rising costs, food and housing insecurity, and access financial aid to which they are entitled.
The Hope Center stands firmly with our partners, campus leaders, advocates, and students across the country in defending the mission and existence of the Department of Education. Now more than ever, we must strengthen—not dismantle—the federal systems designed to help students meet their basic needs, succeed in college, and build the futures they deserve.