The Department of Education must implement a major overhaul to federal student aid within less than a year, raising concerns about staffing and capacity. The changes include eliminating a graduate student loan program, consolidating repayment options, increasing endowment taxes, and introducing new accountability metrics based on earnings. Along with the implementation, public colleges will face budget cuts exceeding $1 trillion in funding for Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs. Experts describe the task as nearly impossible, given the department's significant staff cuts and additional burdens placed on colleges.
"I worry that that implementation is a really big ask for the department in the way that it is staffed," said Beth Akers, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute who focuses on the economics of higher education.
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the department will have to eliminate an entire loan program for graduate students, consolidate repayment options for future borrowers, increase the endowment tax and introduce a whole new accountability metric based on students' earnings.
Jon Fansmith, senior vice president for government relations at the American Council on Education, said the agency and colleges are taking on a 'Herculean task.'
Ellen Keast, deputy press secretary of the department, called the new law a 'historic win' and said officials will provide periodic updates about implementation.
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