By Alexa Garrett, News Editor
What is the Department of Education (DOE)? A question many college students do not know the answer to. Many are unaware of the spectrum that the DOE covers, what civil rights issues it handles, and the amount of funding the department provides to schools nationwide. The DOE states they “annually serve nearly 18,200 school districts and over 50 million students attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools.”
The DOE was created in 1867 to collect information from schools for the States to ensure the most effective education system. State and local governments are the primary parties responsible for funding elementary and secondary education, with the DOE only accounting for about eight percent.
The Economic Policy Institute states that “these resources help balance the scales of school funding, as high-poverty districts often get less funding from local sources.” Federally issued funding goes towards educationally disadvantaged students, special education programs, and school improvement.
A significant amount of the DOE’s budget goes towards higher education. Pew Research Center says that “In addition to its other roles, the department is the single largest lender to college students – operating in some ways more like a bank than a government agency.” Drawing funds from the U.S. Treasury, the DOE’s student loan portfolio stood at 1.47 trillion in 2024.
On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order to end some of the DOE’s primary functions, sending many responsibilities to the State. This sparked fear among students nationwide that they would not receive the needed funding.
Senior political science major Victoria Koechert thinks that if the States hold authority, it will affect many first-generation college students.
“I think that all of these ways to make college more affordable and more accessible are going to dissipate. As a first-generation student, your parents can’t help you because you’re the first one experiencing it. It will be devastating for a lot of students,” she said.
The DOE is also in charge of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) protocols. These protocols were instituted to ensure equality when applying for federal aid and to create a space for cultural or ethnic support. On Jan. 20, the government ended all DEI-related initiatives in an executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Prefacing.” Sophomore education major Jada Hinds believes DEI is essential to our school system.
“It won’t be in the best interest of everyone to do away with the Department of Education. Civil rights disputes in our schooling systems might not receive the attention that they deserve and desire at the moment.”
Many are drawing attention to the similarities between Trump’s executive orders and Project 2025, a political initiative released in April 2023 that included many right-winged policy suggestions.
Key similarities include sending troops to the Southern Border, reviewing the intelligence community, and eliminating federal education funding. This book was created by executives across the republican party, with Trump saying, “I have nothing to do with Project 2025,” at the 2024 Presidential Debate against previous Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It also feels very alarming because getting rid of it completely is one of the things that appeared in Project 2025. If they’re considering one of those things and going with it, what next on the list are we going to take off,” Hinds said.
Nonetheless, the DOE provides many helpful resources from elementary school to college. Many are concerned that when federal funding goes away, students will reap the consequences. For more information about the DOE, visit www.ed.gov.
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