What a Trump Administration could mean financially for IUI students

<p>During an event celebrating Women&#x27;s History Month in 2017, President Donald Trump greets Linda McMahon, a member of his previous administration </p><p>photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/5/29/17381104/trump-president-small-business-leader-linda-mcmahon-code" target="">vox.com</a></p>

During an event celebrating Women's History Month in 2017, President Donald Trump greets Linda McMahon, a member of his previous administration

photo courtesy of vox.com

On Nov. 19, president-elect Donald Trump nominated Linda McMahon as the United States Secretary of Education. Through a statement shared on Truth Social, a Trump-owned social media platform, he shared plans for McMahon to spearhead efforts to send education back to the states. This would be similar to the overturn of Roe v. Wade, where states individually decided policies around abortion, calling for an end of the Department of Education’s federal power. This poses great challenges to the federally distributed financial aid grants, work-study funds and loans in which many students receive through the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) under the Department of Education. 

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Trump shared his Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon through Truth Social on Nov. 19.

McMahon worked under the previous Trump administration as the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration, but stepped down after two years. She is known among many as the former World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. executive, as her and her ex-husband, Vince McMahon, co-founded what is known as modern WWE. Her previous works in education are serving on the Connecticut State Board of education in 2009 for two years, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University.

Due to her lack of experience within education, some students feel as though she could be unqualified for the position. Cee Mwaafrika, a first year student at IUI majoring in journalism, echoes these concerns.

“I feel that, for one thing, what I look for in qualifications for someone who's supposed to be the secretary of education, I would want them to have at least worked in education,” Mwaafrika said. “In a few different sectors, not as just an administrator, but on the front line. Say, as a teacher, professor, whatever it may be.”

The FAFSA, a known form millions of students residing in the United States submit each year in order to request extra funding for postsecondary education, is now available for students and families expecting to pay for college in the upcoming 2025-2026 academic year. 

While different states and universities have different deadlines posted for their own grants, scholarships, and loans, the priority deadline for IUI is April 15, while the application as a whole is due on June 30, 2026. 

Within the past few years, the FAFSA has been remodeled in order to make the amount of questions easier for students to complete. 

In 2019, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander and Alabama Senator Doug Jones proposed to revise the FAFSA in 2019, believing that it was long overdue. This led to the FAFSA Simplification Act of 2019, which was first implemented for the 2024-2025 application.  

According to the official FAFSA website, the four major changes included: replacing the expected family contribution with the student aid index, modifying the family definition in FAFSA formulas, expanding access to federal pell grants and streamlining the FAFSA form. 

“The cumbersome FAFSA is the major impediment to low income students going to college in the United States today,” Alexander said at an agenda for higher education reform in 2019. “They and their parents are intimidated by the complexity or wary of the government form and don’t see why they should have to give to the Department of Education information they’ve already given to the Internal Revenue Service.”

With the reform of the FAFSA supposingly making it easier to complete, this prompted Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb to sign SB167 in 2023. This bill required every Indiana high school senior, regardless of their plans after graduation, to complete the FAFSA. Another vital change was the removal of a sibling discount given to students who had a sibling also attending college at the same time. In previous years, these students would have received an increase in financial aid. 

Due to these new improvements being implemented for the first time in the 2024-2025 application period, FAFSA experienced a delay in releasing the form compared to previous years. While FAFSA season usually begins on Oct. 1, the application became available in December. Many students expressed challenges that came with the online glitches and unavailability to make corrections on time.  

“There were a lot of moving parts to it. And for another thing, there were a few points where I was just like, not really sure what I was doing,” said Mwaafrika about his first time completing the FAFSA. “Thankfully, I had a lot of resources at my high school that kind of helped me get through it.”

The issues with FAFSA reflect other concerns about the future of education, particularly as political changes threaten federal support. Trump’s comments about sending education back to the states has been pointed out as being similar to comments made within Project 2025, where plans on abolishing the Department of Education have been written. The Department of Education is where students in universities receive federal funding for their tuition, causing students to worry about their future of receiving an education. 

"90% of my schooling is paid for by need-based aid, which is scholarships, FAFSA, parents and loans from FAFSA," said Sydnie Barrett, a second-year student at IUI. "So, unfortunately, I was thinking, and I was like,‘wait a minute, he wanted to get rid of the Department of Education.’ And so my first thought was ‘I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm an out-of-state student. Without my federal aid, I would not be able to go here.’"

In addition to sending education back to the states, Trump has made many other comments regarding what is being taught in schools. In an article written by Trump on Real Clear Politics, he expresses his thoughts on funding regarding the practice of “critical race theory.”

“First, every state legislature should pass a ban on taxpayer dollars going to any school district or workplace that teaches critical race theory,” Trump wrote. “Which inherently violates existing anti-discrimination laws. It needs to happen everywhere — and Congress should seek to institute a federal ban through legislation as well.” 

Many of those who oppose critical race theory believe it is discriminatory towards white people. Yet, critical race theory examines the racial inequalities within a society, which is present in classroom lessons and social justice groups in universities. 

“The reason why I am at this school is because I received the Norman Brown Diversity and Leadership scholarship,” Barrett said. “It's a very solid scholarship, and we do a lot of cultural and social justice programming and education within our group. Our leader, she’s one of the top people in the Multicultural Center, and she was already worried this year. They were like, ‘We’re being way more strict about you guys completing your requirements on time because we can’t give them any reason to try to cut our program.’”

Similar to Trump, McMahon has disagreed with DEI initiatives, as seen across schools in the United States. She wants to expand apprenticeship programs as the education pick, but has attacked DEI within the program. In an article for Fox News, written by McMahon, she sees it as a costly initiative for businesses. 

“Finally, the rule contains numerous provisions that are irrelevant to training skilled workers,” said McMahon. “There are diversity, equity and inclusion mandates throughout the rule for both businesses and states that add costs and administrative burdens to all apprenticeship programs.” 

With the future of federal funding seeming uncertain along with concerns about the stability of education, students have shared thoughts on what lies ahead for them.

“It looks bleak. I feel like the main thing I'm gonna have to really focus on this year is making the most out of my education while I still have it,” Mwaafrika said. “And taking time to realize that if I can't go to college anymore, then what's next? I don't want to have to live as if everything that I've worked towards is just going to be taken away from me in an instant.” 

Melanie Contreras is a freshman at IUI double majoring in English and journalism with a minor in legal studies. Outside of writing she enjoys learning languages and going for walks. 

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