By Staff Reporter |

Arizona State University (ASU) President Michael Crow may not be in outright support of President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Department of Education (ED), but he does seem to favor the idea of reform at the very least.

In Politico coverage gauging university presidents’ sentiments toward another Trump administration, Crow voiced a desire for an ED overhaul. Crow made the remarks during the annual Higher Education-News Media Dinner-Discussion at the University of Pennsylvania Club of New York City (Penn Club), which he hosted. 

Crow said that ED student loans largely prove to be a waste of taxpayer dollars, since a majority of recipients don’t graduate.

“The Department of Education is a mismatch of bank feeds that have been cobbled together over 50 years of congressional history or more,” said Crow. “If you look at the United States and our success, we have almost three quarters of a trillion dollars being spent on Pell Grants in the last few decades, and more than half of those individuals have never graduated from college.”

Crow went on to say that the federal student loans weren’t having their intended effects — more citizens with a higher education that, in all likelihood, would strengthen the economy, depress poverty, spur innovation, and raise the education level (and welfare) of subsequent generations — since most borrowers weren’t getting their degrees.  

“Most of the people that have loans supported by the government of the United States have no diplomas, no certificates, no degrees of any kind,” said Crow. “Clearly, something is not yet perfected and so what we need is new designs, new models, new ways of doing things.”

Trump vowed to abolish ED in a campaign promise made last year. The proposal was released as part of his “Agenda47” platform outlining his plan for his second and nonconsecutive term. 

In his campaign promise, Trump said he would revert education authority and responsibilities to the states entirely. The president-elect explained the low education outcomes weren’t worth the high rates of federal spending and bureaucracy.

“And one other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C. and sending all education and education work and needs back to the States. We want them to run the education of our children, because they’ll do a much better job of it. You can’t do worse. We spend more money per pupil, by three times, than any other nation. And yet we’re absolutely at the bottom. We’re one of the worst. So you can’t do worse. We’re going to end education coming out of Washington D.C. We’re going to close it up — all those buildings all over the place and yet people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the States.”

Under the late Democratic president Jimmy Carter, the U.S. founded the ED in 1980 through legislation splitting the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare into two: ED, and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

ED received about four percent of the fiscal year 2024 budget, and its budget sits at around $240 billion. ED provides over $150 billion in new and consolidated loans annually. 

ED has the smallest staff of the 15 Cabinet agencies, consisting of about 4,400 employees. 

Those employees are split among 17 offices within the department: Federal Student Aid; Institute of Education Services; Office of the Chief Information Officer; Office of Communications and Outreach; Office for Civil Rights; Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education; Office of the Deputy Secretary; Office of English Language Acquisition; Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; Office of Finance and Operations; Office of the General Counsel; Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs; Office of Postsecondary Education; Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development; Office of the Secretary; Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services; and Office of the Under Secretary. 

South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds introduced a bill to abolish ED, the Returning Education to Our States Act. The bill proposed to shift certain programs to other departments.

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