How will this affect the Cal Poly Humboldt campus?
by Mia Costales
On Tuesday, Nov. 18, the Department of Education announced that they will be moving parts of their department to other federal agencies. Among these parts are The Indian Education program, The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, The Office of Postsecondary Education, the Foreign Medical Accreditation Partnership, Child Care Access Means Parents in School Partnership and the International Education and Foreign Language Studies Partnership. These offices will be moved to be in management with the Department of Health and Humans Services, Labor, Interior and State.
Cal Poly Humboldt’s Communications Specialist, Iridian Cazarez, commented on how the campus is preparing to support students during this time.
“At this time, we are assessing the impact this announcement will have on campuses and students,” Cazarez said in an email. “The [California State University] is closely monitoring developments and working closely with legislators and other stakeholders to ensure that higher education opportunities remain accessible to all students.”
These changes to the Department of Education leave many students on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus unsure if they will receive the same amount in student loans, financial aid and grants such as the Pell Grant.
The Department of Education is responsible for issuing about $100 billion in student loans and over $30 billion in Pell Grants to universities every year. While students who receive aid or take out loans may not feel the effects of the Department of Education’s dismantling immediately, they may in the future. The U.S. student loan portfolio has now been transferred to the Small Business Administration (SBA), yet SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler announced that they would be cutting over 40% of its workforce. This leaves many skeptical of the SBA’s abilities to handle the student debt portfolio — as of 2025, over one million students have accrued hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan debt according to the Office of Federal Student Aid website.
On March 20, Trump signed the executive order Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities which set out to close the Department of Education and return authority over education to the states.
“Closure of the Department of Education would drastically improve program implementation in higher education,” the executive order reads. “The Department of Education currently manages a student loan debt portfolio of more than $1.6 trillion. This means the Federal student aid program is roughly the size of one of the Nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo. But although Wells Fargo has more than 200,000 employees, the Department of Education has fewer than 1,500 in its Office of Federal Student Aid. The Department of Education is not a bank, and it must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.”
Mia is a journalism major and the Editor in Chief of The Lumberjack. She hopes to give a platform to underrepresented communities through her writing and provide the public with thoughtful and informed stories. In her free time she enjoys cooking, reading and playing the violin. Contact her at mdc140@humboldt.edu.
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