Hailey Whitlock, Staff Writer 

On Mar. 21, 2025, President Trump announced that the management of student loans will be transferred from the Department of Education to the Small Business Administration. This statement came a day after the president signed an executive order to begin the process of dismantling the Department of Education. According to Fox News, the president said the following at a White House event celebrating the new order: “I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all.” 

However, the process of minimizing the Department of Education is not a simple one; the tasks assigned to the department must be reallocated among other agencies, many of which are slashing staff in an attempt to decrease costs. In addition, many question if such an action is even legal. When questioned about the president’s authority to substantially restructure the Department of Education, according to NPR, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, stated, “The President has always said Congress has a role to play in this effort, and we expect them to help the President deliver.” 

In an effort to address the concerns about the allocation of duties, the president released a statement on Friday regarding delegation of tasks. As recorded by MarketLine, President Trump said, “I’ve decided that the SBA, the Small Business Administration, headed by Kelly Loeffler, who is a terrific person, will handle all of the student-loan portfolio. We have a portfolio that is very large, lots of loans, tens of thousands of loans, pretty complicated deal. That’s coming out of the Department of Education immediately.”

A separate statement issued by Loeffler on the same day reaffirmed the Small Business Administration’s dedication to reducing staff in line with the new Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk. According to AP News, Loeffler asserted, “By eliminating non-mission-critical positions and consolidating functions, we will revert to the staffing levels of the last Trump administration.” As part of reorganization, the Small Business Administration plans to cut its workforce by 43%, laying off approximately 2,700 workers. The timing of this announcement is troubling as the administration is making such cuts while taking on the new burden of managing the complex student loan portfolio, prompting questions of why the agency is not increasing hires to ease the transition instead of dramatically cutting the department. 

In regard to students with disabilities, President Trump enlists this portion of responsibility to Robert F. Kennedy, declaring as reported by Fox News, “And also Bobby Kennedy, the Health and Human Services [secretary] will be handling special needs and all of the nutrition programs and everything else rather complex.” Continuing, the president said, “So I think that will work out very well. Those two elements will be taken out of the Department of Education, and then all we have to do is get the students to get guidance from the people that love and cherish them, including their parents… It’s going to be great. It’s going to be a great situation.” 
However, many disagree with the reduction in the Department of Education, such as James Kvaal, a man who worked in senior roles in both the Obama and Biden administrations. He said in a statement to ABC News, “We’re at a point now where millions of borrowers are late on their loans. For the department to be focused on laying off half its staff and going through a fundamental reorganization of how it administers these programs, you know, in really critical weeks for borrowers who are trying to get into repayment plans or get loan forgiveness, I think it’s very dangerous and puts a risk that millions of borrowers of going into default on their loans.”