Historically, July 4th has represented the independence of the United States, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. However, this year, Trump gave his Republican-dominated Congress a new task, turning this date into a legislative deadline: the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The final version of the bill, dubbed the Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), consists of over 1,000 pages, mainly targeting tax cuts and social program reforms. The Department of Education and numerous related programs faced heavy changes with the passage of this bill.
The bill streamlines student-loan programs, condensing numerous plans into simply two options: the standard repayment plan and the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). This will lead to higher monthly repayment rates, both for current students in debt and for the millions of estimated future ones. Student loans as a whole have also been capped-- limits extending to both lifetime loans in undergraduate and graduate school. In addition, the PELL grant program, which is the largest US federal grant program for undergraduate students with financial need, has had its qualifying rules tightened, eliminating students on fully funded scholarships from the grant. These changes aim to save taxpayers' money by cutting out unnecessary funds, as the CBO estimates a reduction of over 300 billion from taxpayers' dollars in the next decade with the passage of the OBBB.
The passage of this bill also brings upon new analytic responsibilities to the ED. The OBBB implements strict new accountability mandates to the ED to strip funding from programs that don’t provide sufficient economic value. Carrying out this task will require hefty data analysis and investigations into thousands of federal programs, in addition to collaboration with various other agencies such as the IRS and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, with the recent cuts to the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the primary knowledge-gathering body of the ED, the department's capacity for such analysis is severely compromised.
Contrary to common belief, the ED isn’t responsible for creating education policy; rather, it is tasked with the administration and enforcement of federal education laws and programs. It’s been a long-time conservative initiative to minimize the ED, or even abolish it entirely. Many right-winged politicians believe that individual states should be the ones creating education policy, rather than centralizing it to the nation. Through both Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, he has run with the explicit position to significantly reduce the size and scope of the Department of Education, and his current regime and members have reflected that stance. “Education is fundamentally a state responsibility. Instead of filtering resources through layers of federal red tape, we will empower states to take charge and advocate for and implement what is best for students, families, and educators in their communities,” said McMahon, after the passage of the bill, adding, ““Closing the Department does not mean cutting off funds from those who depend on them”.
However, now, with the agency’s workforce already depleted by Trump’s earlier actions, as the Supreme Court has enabled 1,300 employees to be cut from the department, McMahon faces a hefty list of implementation challenges. Though this move is criticized heavily by the liberals, conservatives as well are speaking out in concern for this compounded situation. "I do have significant concerns that the speed of the cuts will have left us with a department that is unable to effectively implement this legislation," said Beth Akers, a professional at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute.
Akers' concerns have been widely shared by not only politicians, but also experts in the financial aid, higher education, and other sectors. Though the current administration values efficiency and decentralization, inducing complex responsibilities whilst simultaneously stripping capability is a risky balance--one that could easily lead to systemic disruption, confusion, and failure. The coming years will be the ones to reveal whether this bold strategy is one to create efficiency and effectivity, or if the OBBB will eventually be viewed as the catalyst to the dismantling of critical federal oversight, equitable access to education, and financial opportunity for our nation.