Editorial | The Trump administration’s continued attack on higher education

On June 29, the Department of Education released its final ruling on legislation calling for “accountability” in post-secondary education. Under the rule, students enrolled in programs whose graduates earn a lower median salary than high school graduates in the same area will no longer be eligible for federal student loans. While the policy is intended to address the student debt crisis, the Trump administration has instead taken another step toward devaluing higher education by placing the financial burden on students.

​Federal loans were created to expand college access. The ability to get a loan that didn’t take into account credit scores, offered flexible repayment schedules, and featured varying interest rates allowed students from all backgrounds to earn their desired college degree. Students are now left with two options: take out a private loan or give up on pursuing the degree.

​Taking out a private loan means a higher chance of credit checks, fixed interest rates, and inflexible payments, a lower chance of pausing payments if necessary, and no chance of loan forgiveness. Student loans, no matter the amount, can place stress on the person making that decision. The goal, of course, is to encourage students to avoid these degrees — typically in fields such as social work, education, cosmetology, fine arts, or broader humanities. 

But will students with a passion to become a teacher, a caseworker, or an artist suddenly make a career switch? Or will they choose not to earn a degree at all? An education is lost either way.

Are we only seeking a degree in order to participate in an inherently capitalistic society and live our lives solely as money-earning statistics? Or, as we have spent our entire lives working towards, are we at college to learn about, pursue, and eventually live out our passions? Whether that be humanities, STEM, fine arts, business — we have the right to educate ourselves and pursue whatever career we desire. But a higher education is also about expanding your perspectives and knowledge, and broadening your experiences.

​This is not the first piece of legislation passed by the Trump administration that restricts educational accessibility. In July of 2025, a bill was passed that declassified certain fields of study as “professional,” limiting the amount of available federal loans. One of these "unprofessional" fields was nursing, a decision that sparked backlash from universities across the country, including Penn. While the move was temporarily blocked last month, the government’s intention is clear: to devalue higher education.

While some might consider Penn insulated from the legislation, no program or degree is safe when the measuring tool they use has very little to do with the education itself. The bill disregards whether or not the graduates work in the same field that they studied, instead choosing to focus solely on the age and median earnings for comparison. This broad generalization of every graduate regardless of career choice or financial situation is exactly what makes this legislation so reckless. 

​If bills can be so easily passed to refuse students federal loans, why can’t we begin to regulate college tuition? Instead of targeting the small number of people seeking degrees based on passion, we should be looking at the institutions that consistently choose profit over the well-being of students. Penn’s own undergraduate tuition will rise by 3.9% this coming academic year — and it’s not alone.

Higher education should not only be valued as a bartering tool for a higher wage, but also as a stepping stone towards a desired career and future. The Trump administration may call this an “accountability framework,” but the only way to truly promote accountability is to focus on the institutions, not a handful of programs that prioritize passion.

Editorials represent the majority view of members of The Daily Pennsylvanian Summer Editorial Board, which is entirely separate from the newsroom. Questions or comments should be directed to letters@thedp.com.