President Biden has implemented numerous education policies that have drawn harsh criticism from Republicans, who hope former President Trump will sweep them all away when he returns to the White House. But some of these policies may prove more intransigent than others.
Biden is reforming everything from student loans to Title IX could be on the chopping block in a second Trump administration.
“We’ve seen this before: The regulatory ping-pong between administrations is something the higher education community probably expects at this point,” said Stephanie Hall, senior director of higher education policy at the Center for American Progress. “But I think the alarm bells are ringing, maybe even more so … at times like this, because there are a number of paths” that can be taken to overturn Biden’s policies.
One of the biggest points of contention is likely to be the modern income-based student loan repayment program called Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE). The first part of the SAVE plan, which would raise the income excluded from payments from 150 percent above the federal poverty level to 225 percent, went into effect last year. The second part, originally scheduled to go into effect this month, involved cutting monthly student loan payments from 10 percent of disposable income to 5 percent.
Republicans have repeatedly condemned the plan, several red states challenge the initiative in court. The justices were divided on whether to block certain parts of the SAVE plan, and a group of Republican-led states has asked the Supreme Court for an emergency ruling.
“If there is a second Trump administration, there are a number of ways to repeal the SAVE plan,” Hall said.
A Trump administration would almost certainly also attack the modern Title IX regulations, which, among other things, provide protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Several states have filed lawsuits challenging the Biden administration’s changes to Title IX law that allow transgender students access to their preferred locker rooms, restrooms and sports teams.
A re-elected President Trump would almost certainly stop defending these reforms in court and possibly allow government agencies to do the work for him.
“The department, the administration, can decide to stop defending regulations. It doesn’t happen very often, but it happens and it’s an option,” said Reid Setzer, director of government affairs at the Education Trust.
“That can happen, but it’s complicated and it still gives the administration less control. They’re still going to be subject to what a judge, an appeals system or the Supreme Court wants to do,” he added.
The modern changes to Title IX also roll back some Trump-era policies that required stricter standards of proof regarding sexual assault or harassment on campus.
A fundamental change to Title IX would require a lengthy reform process, including a public consultation period.
On higher education issues such as the SAVE Plan, a modern head of the Department of Education would have to initiate a rule-making negotiation process that would require bringing together stakeholders and convening numerous meetings.
Both processes could take months or more than a year and require an exorbitant amount of resources.
“You will see that because of this process, changes in higher education often do not really come to fruition until the second half of a president’s four-year term,” Setzer said.
Trump has not expressed his opinion on the SAVE plan, but remained steadfast against student loan forgiveness after the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s universal debt forgiveness and celebrated the decision.
If the Republicans manage to form a three-way government in November, the easiest way for Trump would be to reverse at least some of Biden’s policies that Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows lawmakers to review and repeal government regulations.
Republicans tried to stop Biden’s effort to operate the CRA to forgive $20,000 in student debt last year, but couldn’t get the votes they needed. Even if they had, Biden would have vetoed it.
“If conservative Republicans control the government unanimously, that majority could roll back the regulations that were enacted – roughly speaking – in the last six to seven months of this administration,” Setzer said.
“That can be done through a 50-vote threshold in the Senate. And that technique, that method, was used three times in 2021 by the Democrats in Congress for the Trump rules, and then it was used several more times, I would say 10 or 11 times, by the Republican majority in 2017. So if you have such an opportunity as a new administration that clears the desk, so to speak, you have less to do,” he added.
While major policy shifts are scarce due to the time-consuming process of undoing the work of a previous administration, experts say the impact of any attempt at change should not be ignored.
“I think we’ve tried to focus on what this means for students. I think they’re going to be the ones who are going to pay the price for this, whether it’s the student loan borrowers who are going to see their bills go up. […] “If the SAVE plan is eliminated, the amounts for typical borrowers will augment by thousands,” Hall said. “That will hit people deep in their pockets.”
