Trump signs order narrowing student loan program

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an order directing Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to alter the eligibility standards of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The Bush-era program allowed borrowers employed by the government or a nonprofit to have their federal student loans erased after 10 years of payments.

Trump’s order excluded employees for nonprofit organizations involved in illegal or improper activity from eligibility for the program. Trump’s order defines illegal or improper activities to include, among other things, the violation of immigration laws, the support of terrorism, and the performance of transgender procedures on children. Executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, Mike Pierce, slammed the order in a Friday statement, accusing Trump of weaponizing debt to quell free speech he disagrees with.

Did Trump say anything about the U.S. Department of Education? The responsibility of public education should be returned to the states, President Donald Trump said Friday. States taking control of their own education programs would result in lower costs and increased effectiveness, he told Oval Office reporters. Trump made the comments amid widespread public speculation that the president would dissolve the federal Department of Education.