College is about to become less affordable for low-income students. Protection of civil rights on campus is about to be scaled back. For-profit colleges are about to rob students blind and raid the federal trough.
As the administration of President Donald J. Trump reaches the six-month mark, some critical observers say those looming scenarios have all become closer to reality under the leadership of Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos.
“In the context of affordability, access, and quality, this administration has taken a backward step,” said Tariq Habash, policy associate at The Century Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank that “seeks to foster opportunity, reduce inequality, and promote security at home and abroad,” according to its website.
“Without question, the outlook for students and student loan borrowers has grown even more dire since Donald Trump took office,” agreed Charlotte Hancock, program director at Higher Ed, Not Debt, a campaign housed at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, a policy institute based in Washington, D.C.
And there’s no shortage of criticism that has been levied against the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which is currently being led by attorney Candice Jackson. Among other things, critics lament a recent memo from Jackson that seemed to suggest that the office no longer take a comprehensive look at civil rights violations when investigating a single civil rights complaint.
“Although the law remains unchanged, and the obligations of this Department of Education are the same as the obligations of the previous administration, the actions and rhetoric of Secretary Betsy DeVos and Acting Assistant Secretary Candice Jackson continue to suggest an abdication of their responsibilities as public servants in a civil rights agency,” said Liz King, director of education policy at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
King said the Office of Civil Rights has historically had a “measurably positive affect on the lives of students and families.”
