On March 20, 2025, the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order to "facilitate the closure of the Department of Education...[to] the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law." The Trump Administration has acknowledged that it will take an act of Congress to eliminate ED. President Trump announced the following day that student loans will be handled by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and that the SBA will eliminate almost half of its workforce.

These changes follow a massive reduction in force (RIF) at ED that impacted nearly 50% of ED's workforce. While the Trump Administration vowed to "continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking," the scope of the cuts raise serious questions about the agency's ability to administer the complex and critical function of federal student aid. The day after the RIFs were announced the FAFSA stopped functioning for five hours. 

Acting Under Secretary of Education James Bergeron issued a letter to higher education leaders on March 14, 2025, stating that "continuity of operations for Federal Student Aid (FSA) is both a statutory and critical function of the Department. Accordingly, no employees working on core functions of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) or student loan servicing were impacted by the RIF." The letter promised further updates soon.

Closing the U.S. Department of Education has long been a priority for the GOP. Secretary McMahon, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 4, 2025, and immediately sent an email to the staff at ED describing the agency's final mission "to restore the rightful role of state oversight in education and to end the overreach from Washington." The message also describes three core convictions, including that "postsecondary education should be a path to a well-paying career aligned with workforce needs. 

During the Secretary's nomination hearing on Thursday, February 13, McMahon said that, if confirmed, she’d “like to make sure that [the Trump Administration is] presenting a plan that [she thinks] our Senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education.” 

McMahon also clarified that while ED may shut down, key education programs would not: instead, they may be relocated to different agencies, such as the Department of Treasury and/or Department of Health and Human Services. See here for our recap of Linda McMahon’s nomination hearing.

On Wednesday, February 27, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is essentially the HR Department of the federal government, sent a seven-page memo requiring government agencies to submit plans for “large-scale reductions in force (RIFs)” and agency reorganization plans by March 13. The memo instructs agencies to “focus on the maximum elimination of functions that are not statutorily mandated.” By April 14, agencies must submit a plan for implementation by September 30 that includes a new organizational structure, review of all employees’ performance records, any moves from Washington, DC, to cheaper areas of the country, areas for future large-scale reductions in force, any components to be spared, and explanation of how all these changes will improve services for Americans. ED also offered employees a buyout of $25,000 to leave their positions by the end of March, threatening widespread layoffs, and laid off probationary employees. It has also been reported that the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is planning to reduce the size of the call center and replace employees with generative artificial intelligence.

In February, DOGE canceled 169 Institute of Education Science contracts, including the What Works Clearinghouse, The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), and the Condition of Education, totaling hundreds of million in funding that helps inform all areas of policymaking and education delivery. Particularly notable for the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) is the canceling of the Common Core of Data, which is an invaluable source of K-12 directory information. Without this data source, researchers will have to merge lists of schools and districts from disparate data systems across all 50 states.

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IEPDS), College Scorecard, NAEP, and College Navigator are still operational. However, the staff at IES was reduced, which could endanger the infrastructure to college, analyze, and make publicly available all collected data.

Read More:

• New NAEP Data Sound Early Warning for Postsecondary Pipeline