The Shifting Sands of Education: Tracing the Trump Administration's Policy Changes

The return of Donald Trump to the presidency has ushered in a period of significant transformation in the realm of education. With a focus on reshaping the federal role, the Trump administration has pursued policies aimed at dismantling established structures, redirecting funding, and redefining civil rights enforcement. These changes have sparked both support and opposition, raising fundamental questions about the direction of American education.

Aims and Objectives

Our Nation’s bright future relies on empowered families, engaged communities, and excellent educational opportunities for every child. Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them. The Trump administration talks about “closing the Department”-and this being ED’s “final mission”-but they do not have a realistic political path to shutting it down lawfully.

Dismantling the Department of Education

One of the most prominent goals of the Trump administration has been to significantly reduce the influence and scope of the Department of Education (ED). President Trump appointed Linda McMahon, a co-founder and former CEO of WWE, to be the United States secretary of education. On March 20, Trump signed an executive order directing the secretary of education to "facilitate the closure" of the department. To shut down the Department or terminate those functions would require another act of Congress. While facing political hurdles in completely eliminating the ED, the administration has taken steps to shrink its workforce and shift responsibilities to other agencies.

In 2025, ED’s workforce declined by about 1,700 employees, reducing the agency by almost half relative to the day Trump took office. IAAs are contracts between agencies that define each agency’s roles and responsibilities in undertaking collaborative work. According to one analysis, the impacted funding makes up more than 40% of ED’s annual appropriations. IAAs are not uncommon in the management of federal programs; both the Biden and Obama administrations used them (e.g., working with the IRS to administer student aid programs). It did so through a series of interagency agreements (IAAs).

Redefining Civil Rights Enforcement

The Trump administration has adopted a different and aggressive approach to civil rights enforcement. It has used its authority to withhold federal funding from institutions that it sees as misaligned with this administration’s interpretation of civil rights law (over issues such as transgender rights and antisemitism). OCR was hit hard by the reduction-in-force (RIF) announcements in March 2025, losing more than half of its staff and closing 7 of its 12 regional offices. In December 2025, ED called back some OCR staff who had received RIF notices; in January 2026, it rescinded the RIF for all OCR staff members.

Read also: Impact of Trump on Student Debt

ED issued a DCL and FAQ (to accompany another executive order) that articulate a new interpretation of civil rights laws and regulations. The administration has delayed or threatened to withhold federal funding over alleged noncompliance. Institutions-and even entire states-are being accused of Title IX violations for having programs and policies that create opportunities for transgender students (as opposed to more traditional Title IX cases of sexual harassment and assault).

Combating Illegal DEI and Racial Preferencing

ED Has Combatted Illegal DEI & Racial Preferencing In Schools By: Notifying educational institutions receiving federal funding that they must follow antidiscrimination law and cease using race preferences and stereotypes as a factor in admissions, hiring, scholarships, discipline, and beyond. Initiating investigations into 6 universities for allegedly awarding impermissible race-based scholarships and one university for allegedly administering a program that segregates students based on race; Launching investigations into 45 universities under Title VI for allegedly partnering with “The Ph.D. Project,” an organization that provides doctoral students with insights into obtaining a Ph.D. but limits eligibility based on race; Requiring State and Local Education Agencies to certify their compliance with the antidiscrimination obligations of Title VI and SFFA v.

Financial Restructuring and Funding Priorities

The Trump administration has implemented significant changes to the financial landscape of education, including withholding funds from schools and colleges. The administration has canceled existing federal grants and contracts for conflicting with aspects of the administration’s agenda (e.g., its anti-DEI agenda). For example, it cancelled $1 billion in school mental health grants, claiming that the grant program no longer aligned with the administration’s priorities. Through DOGE, cancel federal contracts for alleged “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Impact on Colleges

The Trump/McMahon education agenda has affected colleges. They have been impacted by the administration’s funding cuts and withholdings, new visa policies that threaten international student enrollment and tuition revenue streams, and a combination of threats and policies that have silenced faculty, staff, and students. The administration has delayed or withheld funds from institutions to force compliance with their directives related to DEI, LGBTQ+ rights, and antisemitism.

Congressional Response

On the appropriations side, Congress rejected funding cuts proposed by the Trump administration, funding most programs at flat levels relative to FY2025. For example, while the administration wanted to cut the federal Pell grant for low-income students by 23%, the FY26 budget maintained last year’s grant levels. Congress also allocated $790 million to IES (the administration requested $261 million), $140 million to OCR (the administration requested $91 million), and $1.588 billion for Federal TRIO and GEAR UP college success programs (the administration asked to eliminate these programs entirely).

Read also: The Impact on Education

Higher Education Initiatives

The largest legislative effort in 2025 was the passage of OBBBA, which included a controversial new tax-credit scholarship program and significant changes to higher education policy. Congress clearly envisioned a well-staffed Department of Education to implement changes to student loan borrowing and repayment, as well as the new Workforce Pell funding stream that requires significant oversight on eligible programs. ED has convened several negotiated rulemaking committees to advance regulations needed to implement these policies.

Student Loans and Debt

Student loan borrowers continue to face a chaotic and confusing loan repayment system. Recent cuts to ED staffing have exacerbated this problem, making it difficult to help borrowers understand their repayment options and enroll in a suitable plan.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

In October, the Department adopted a rule amending the definition of “qualifying employer” for PSLF to exclude organizations that, according to the Secretary, are engaged in “substantial illegal activities.” These provisions appear targeted at governments’ and non-profit organizations’ actions related to immigration, abortion care, gender-affirming care, or DEI programs.

Impact on Universities

The Trump administration has also sought to crack down on universities that it accuses of antisemitism and that it perceives as having a left-wing bias that discriminates against conservative students. Multiple universities have reached settlements with the administration, agreeing to its demands, including the suspension or expulsion of students who participated in 2024 pro-Palestinian campus occupations, taking steps to adopt pro-Israel policies (such as adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism), paying fines, and enacting changes to its admissions policies.

Executive Orders and Directives

On April 23, 2025, Trump signed several executive orders related to college education. He directed the federal government to "enforce laws on the books" regarding the disclosure of large donations to universities as well as regarding college accreditation, which Trump had called his "secret weapon" to exert control over universities.

University Responses

Harvard University publicly refused and criticized demands made by the Trump administration, filing a lawsuit against them and saying that the demands were an illegal overreach of government authority. In response, the administration paused over $2 billion in funding for Harvard.

Cultural and Ideological Shifts

In April 2025, the Trump administration demanded that states receiving money for sex education under the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) remove all references to gender identity, transgender and non-binary people from the curriculum, referring to it as "gender ideology".

End-DEI Portal

In February 2025, the Department of Education established an "end-DEI" portal to take complaints about DEI programs in K-12 schools.

Reactions and Consequences

In response to Trump's education policy, researchers, scientists, and post-docs are reportedly leaving or trying to leave the United States. In June 2025, hundreds of American CEOs criticized Trump's attacks on universities through an open letter organized by the Leadership Now Project, saying funding cuts and student visa restrictions impact America's economic competitiveness.

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