The Trump administration’s Education Department is weighing a rule that would cut federal student loan access for some undergraduate and graduate programs if their graduates do not earn enough. Under the proposal, undergraduate programs would lose eligibility if the typical graduate does not make as much as a high school graduate, while graduate programs would have to produce earnings above those of an average bachelor’s degree holder.
That is why colleges, faith-based schools and higher education groups are searching the proposal now. The department opened the comment period in April and has since been reviewing submissions, while its own data suggested the change could reach deep into fields that many students still choose for practical reasons. The biggest hit would land in undergraduate culinary and personal services programs, where an estimated 75.6 percent would fail the test. Health-related programs would fare better, but 6.7 percent would still miss the mark, and 8.2 percent of humanities and liberal arts programs would fall short. An estimated 8.8 percent of undergraduate religious studies programs would also fail.
The American Council on Education said it joined nearly 40 other organizations in urging critical adjustments. In comments submitted to the department, Ted Mitchell said a final product rushed to a final consensus vote shortchanges all stakeholders, especially students. The council said the framework rests on flawed metrics, gives schools too little time to adapt and goes beyond what Congress intended. The Education Department, by contrast, has described the approach as common sense and taxpayer protection, arguing that postsecondary education programs should not be subsidized if they do not leave graduates better off.
Philip Dearborn, speaking for the Association for Biblical Higher Education, said his group does not want the proposal to become the single biggest defunding of religious higher education in the United States. The association has asked the department to adjust the framework or create an exemption for religious studies programs at faith-based institutions. That appeal lands as the department reviews public comments and decides whether to keep the rule as written, soften it or carve out exceptions that could spare some of the programs most likely to fail.
The proposal is arriving alongside a separate squeeze on federal borrowing for graduate students under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Starting next month, new graduate students will face a $20,500 annual federal student loan cap, while students in professional programs such as law or medical school will be limited to $50,000 a year. Put together, the two moves point to a sharper federal effort to tie borrowing more closely to post-college earnings, and the next question is whether the Education Department will make room for any majors that now look headed for the cut list.
