student loans

For decades, the Department of Education has operated the federal student loan system on autopilot, continually expanding its size, complexity, and cost. The result is a $1.7 trillion portfolio — nearly twice the size of all university endowments combined and larger than JPMorgan Chase’s loan portfolio, the nation’s largest bank — yet it operates without the financial expertise, transparency, or accountability a system of this scale requires. The Department of Education reports that fewer than 40 percent of borrowers are in repayment, and nearly a quarter of borrowers are in default. While not designed to function as a bank, the Department of Education has been managing what is effectively the fifth-largest financial institution in the United States. A course correction Read More ›

The U.S. Department of Education has spent more than $3 trillion since 1980, with little to show for it. Reading and math scores have barely budged, achievement gaps remain, and too many families are trapped in a system that fails their children.

On March 20, 2025, President Trump took decisive action by signing an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the department and return authority to the states.

A year later, the results are striking. The department has overhauled operations — cutting nearly half its staff, reducing administrative layers, and consolidating offices. Grants have been streamlined, programs merged, reporting reduced, and oversight of the $1.6 trillion student-loan portfolio shifted to a more capable agency.

Last week, the White House convened an education roundtable with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon titled, “Biased Professors, Woke Administrators, and the End of Free Inquiry on U.S. Campuses.” Secretary McMahon opened the event by stating, “It was an honor to be at the White House today with this dedicated coalition of students, faculty, institutional leaders, and policy advocates to highlight the issue of woke ideology and the capture of our institutions of higher education. DEI policies have turned universities from free marketplaces of ideas to purveyors of manufactured ideological conformity, chilling free speech and undermining academic rigor.” She explained, “We are committed to working with higher education leaders to reverse course from these decades of decline.” The Secretary Read More ›

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on NTD News Today on Tuesday, April 22, to discuss the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement that collections of defaulted federal student loans would resume on May 5. Ingraham outlined the Biden administration’s unlawful actions to cancel student loans and defended the Trump administration’s return to enforcing repayment of student loans. “The goal is to help people be free from debt while not pushing that onto those who chose not to go to college,” said Ingraham.

Keri D. Ingraham appeared on NTD News on April 8, 2025, to discuss the continued changes to the Department of Education. Dr. Ingraham debated Educate President and former teacher Stacey Schultz on concerns about the transfer of student loans to the Small Business Administration, whether the dismantling of the Department of Education will benefit educators, and how education can be improved nationally.