What Closing the Department of Education Could Mean for the FAFSA
Throughout his campaign, Trump and his allies have promised to dismantle the Education Department, an attack that Republicans have been promoting for years. A U.S. Senate candidate has suggested throwing the agency “in the trash.” Another called him “one of the worst monsters ever created.”
Dismantling the Department of Education could leave billions of dollars in funds, scholarships, grants and more on the books for millions of U.S. schoolchildren . Here’s what you need to know about Trump’s attacks on the Department of Education. (DoE) and what it means for you.
What does this mean for the FAFSA?
The Department of Education currently manages a staggering $1.5 trillion in student loan debt for more than 40 million borrowers. Without the department , the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) —a critical route for millions of students seeking financial aid—would have to be transferred to another federal agency.
This will mean disruption to the standardized financial aid application process, uncertainty about which agency will manage student loan portfolios, and general bureaucratic chaos in the reassignment of loan management responsibilities.
Likewise, it will harm all other types of financial assistance. For example, Pell Grants , which provide need-based grants to low-income students, could face significant restructuring. Transferring control to another agency may result in delays in grant disbursement, changes in eligibility criteria, and increased administrative costs.
What are Republicans proposing instead? The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 proposes potentially transferring oversight of programs for students with disabilities and low-income students to the Department of Health and Human Services. They plan to eventually phase out this funding and convert it into grants to states with no strings attached. In other words, the proposed plan is to significantly reduce the federal government’s involvement in educational financial aid.
Bottom line
Naturally, closing the Department of Education would mean a fundamental shift in how the United States manages education funding and student financial support. And the FAFSA, the cornerstone of federal student aid, would be especially vulnerable to such institutional changes, potentially creating significant uncertainty for millions of students seeking higher education funding.
For now, we can take a deep breath. Closing the department would require complex legislative action, as Congress would have to reallocate billions in annual education funding and essentially create new mechanisms to manage federal education aid. The path forward remains uncertain, but none of this will happen overnight.