If there’s one thing that can unite college students and federal borrowers, it’s the absolute terror of losing Pell Grants and loan forgiveness programs—which is exactly why President Donald Trump’s promise to dismantle the Department of Education has them sweating bullets.
With more than 5 million students relying on Pell Grants to shave up to $6,000 a year off their tuition bills, the idea of kicking the Education Department to the curb has sparked some very real panic. If the department goes up in flames, many students could find themselves paying full price for the privilege of going into lifelong debt—or, you know, just skipping college altogether and going straight into the workforce, where they can finally afford half an apartment.
The push to axe the department comes courtesy of Trump’s newly anointed Co-Chairs of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—because who better to overhaul the education system than a billionaire tech mogul and a guy whose whole brand is making things up confidently?
Trump himself hasn’t minced words, calling the Department of Education a den of radical zealots and Marxists and arguing that states should take over. But there’s one small hitch: Congress actually has to approve this plan, which is kind of like needing permission from your parents before running away from home.
Currently, the Department employs over 4,000 people and manages a casual $1.5 trillion in federal loans for nearly 43 million borrowers—which is a fun way of saying it’s the only reason a huge chunk of Americans can afford to go to college at all. If it gets yeeted into oblivion, loan servicing and borrower assistance might be dumped on the U.S. Treasury—a department that, historically, does not specialize in student loans. So, good luck with that customer service line.
Then there’s the issue of $120 billion in grants, work-study funds, and low-interest loans that the department hands out every year. If the department is axed without a solid plan, it’s not just paperwork that gets lost—it’s actual college access for millions of low-income students.
And what about loan forgiveness programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-driven repayment plans? Experts say they’d likely face “severe delays,” which is a polite way of saying “good luck ever seeing that debt erased.”
Trump, however, is sticking to his guns, saying last October:
“We want federal education dollars to follow the student rather than propping up a bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.”
Finance expert Michael Ryan didn’t hold back when speaking to Newsweek, warning that this isn’t just bureaucratic musical chairs—it’s “playing Russian roulette with America’s educational future.” A bold statement, but considering student debt is already a financial horror movie, adding “nobody knows who’s in charge of loans now” to the mix doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
Meanwhile, financial literacy instructor Alex Beene was a little more optimistic, noting that Pell Grants are wildly popular and probably wouldn’t be eliminated entirely. Instead, they’d most likely be reassigned to another federal agency or pushed onto the states. Of course, whether that transition would be smooth or resemble a dumpster fire remains to be seen.
Sameer Gadkaree, president of The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS), was less thrilled about the uncertainty, warning that borrowers already have enough problems figuring out their repayment options.
“Students and borrowers need more stability, not less,” he told Newsweek, pointing out that even the idea of dismantling the department could throw millions of students into financial limbo.
So, for now, college students and loan borrowers are left with two options:
Hope Congress doesn’t approve Trump’s plan and things stay the same.
Prepare for the absolute circus that would be figuring out student aid under a brand-new system nobody has built yet.Either way, higher education just got a whole lot more stressful—and not because of finals.
