Georgetown University students led a press conference Dec. 2 to condemn recent changes to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) that they view as detrimental to education.
Student leaders and members of Congress criticized recent efforts from Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump to dismantle the DOE. These actions include shifting aid programs to other government agencies and downsizing DOE staff, alongside a recent move to reclassify many advanced degrees.
Anna Gale (SFS ’28), the Georgetown University Student Association external affairs director, said she organized the press conference alongside Emily Han (CAS ’25), the previous external affairs director, to bring broader attention to the DOE cuts’ impacts.
“The particular cuts that happened were very pressing issues, and we figured that they needed their own attention that I wasn’t going to be able to provide via lobbying and that Emily wasn’t going to be able to provide through her other contacts,” Gale told The Hoya. “So we figured we’d get a whole bunch of people together and speak on it.”
“This aligns with our efforts because it directly impacts Georgetown students,” Gale added.
As part of the recent cuts to DOE, McMahon announced that many grant, aid and assistance programs will transfer to other government agencies, including the Department of Labor. Among the transferred programs are grants for parents attending college; TRIO, a set of programs that encourages low-income students to attend college; and Title I, which funds schools in low-income communities.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who spoke during the press conference, said schools and students will suffer as a result of Trump’s changes due to the staffing cuts.
“Last week, Donald Trump and Linda McMahon announced the next phase of their plan to destroy the Department of Education and sell it off for parts,” Markey said at the press conference. “Their dismantling of the department will have immediate negative consequences for students, for families and for local schools nationwide. When a parent or superintendent needs support or technical assistance, there will be no one to pick up the phone.”
One of the changes to advanced degrees is the removal of nursing degrees from the “professional” category, which decreases the amount of federal student loans available to nursing students.
A university spokesperson said the university is concerned about the changes to loan programs, including GradPLUS, a federally managed student aid service for graduate students that will stop accepting new applicants July 1, 2026, and will work to provide alternatives.
“Georgetown is concerned about the impact of changes around graduate student loan limits and the elimination of future Graduate PLUS loans,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Georgetown closely monitors changes to federal financial aid programs and is actively working to develop alternative options for admitted graduate students to access financial aid.”
In November, university officials announced that Georgetown is seeing a decline in graduate school revenue and applications, citing changing federal immigration policy and cuts to higher education funding. The university also announced a $35 million cut to federal research grants.
Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), a registered nurse (RN) who spoke at the press conference, said she views the reclassification of nursing degrees as a restrictive burden on nursing education.
“I’m one of just a few registered nurses in Congress, and one of the most dangerous examples of the destruction is the Trump administration’s decision to restrict student loans for nursing and other professional degrees in health care,” Underwood said at the conference. “This decision limits nursing students’ access to graduate student loans making it more difficult and way more expensive for nursing students to pursue higher education.”
Georgetown professor Rebecca Tarsa — who participates in the Public Servant Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF), a program forgiving student loans for government and non-profit employees that will move from DOE to the Department of Labor — said she expects cuts to PSLF and similar programs to discourage students interested in public service from seeking advanced degrees.
“People are able to do those jobs more effectively if they have better education and if there isn’t a path to get those degrees with some degree of payoff from this program,” Tarsa told The Hoya. “I think that will deter people, especially people who don’t come from higher income households, from being able to serve the country.”
Underwood said Trump and McMahon are hurting Americans through their cuts to the DOE.
“This administration’s attacks on our Department of Education are part of a much larger assault on the very foundations of our constitutional rights and our democracy,” Underwood said. “These attacks are not making us any more free, they’re not making us safer or more healthy, and they’re certainly not making life more affordable.
“By tearing down the Department of Education, this administration has made an explicit choice to abandon students and families,” Underwood added.
