‘Skinny Budget’ continues effort to shutter the agency
By Charlene Crowell
In the In the first 100 days of the current Trump Administration term, over 250,000 federal employees have had their jobs cut, planned to be cut, or have taken a buyout, according to a recent New York Times tally. With a 46 percent staff reduction – 1,380 employees – the Department of Education is among the hardest hit agencies.
The recently released FY 2026 budget plan underscores the administration’s determination to shutter the agency and eliminate programs that support the nation’s strides to remain educationally competitive and economically viable in a global economy.
“The President’s Skinny Budget reflects funding levels for an agency that is responsibly winding down, shifting some responsibilities to the states, and thoughtfully preparing a plan to delegate other critical functions to more appropriate entities,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a related statement.
“The federal government has invested trillions of taxpayer dollars into an education system that is not driving improved student outcomes – we must change course and reorient taxpayer dollars toward proven programs that generate results for American students.”
For the fiscal year that begins October 01, an additional 15.3 percent agency cut would drop education funding another $12 billion from FY 2025’ $78.7 billion. Among these proposed cuts are programs that speak to 21st Century dynamics affecting higher education:
• $980 million – an 80 percent reduction to the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program;
• $75 million for Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) for campus-based childcare services to parents of low-income parents enrolled in postsecondary education;
• $64 million cut to Howard University, only federally chartered Historically Black College and University; and
• $49 million from its Office of Civil Rights, a 35 percent reduction to the office that investigates claims of race, sex and other discrimination in schools.
These specific and modest programs respond to the needs of today’s college students that are quite different from those of yesteryear. The historical 4-year completion rate for an undergraduate degree at a young age has been shrinking for several years. Instead, the growing percentage of college students trend older in age, take longer to graduate, and in the case of Black students, often have children to care for as well. Even after graduation, today’s marketplace demands an ongoing challenge to update skills and education to remain competitive.
According to, Black Student Parents’ Access to Affordable Child Care Support at Community Colleges, a recent policy brief by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Development:
“Black college students are more likely to be parents than other racial groups at both community colleges and four-year institutions. Over one in three (36 percent) of Black students enrolled in community colleges in 2020 were parents. Forty percent of Black women in college are raising children. Black single mothers comprise 30 percent of undergraduate students who are single mothers, and nearly 70 percent of Black single-mother students are first-generation college students. Black fathers make up 19 percent of student parents and are less likely to have access to childcare assistance than fathers of other races.”
CCAMPIS is designed to address this growing need. Competitive federal grant administered by the U.S. Department of Education, help colleges fund on-campus childcare for Pell-eligible students. Unfortunately, the program’s funding has never been enough to meet student parents’ needs. Fewer than 4,000 parent students have benefitted from the program when there are approximately 1.5 million student parents who have children under the age of six, according to the D.C.-based New America.
For now, the popular Pell Grant program continues to serve more than 6 million students from low-income households. But its maximum award per student is $7,395 for the 2025-2026 school year – not enough to cover the anticipated family contribution many schools expect for tuition and other expenses.
With this kind of demonstrated need for college assistance, it’s hard to understand why the Federal Work Study program would face the budget ax. Through its part-time jobs for undergraduate and graduate students with financial need, the monies earned lessen the need to borrow loans, while also encouraging work related to the student’s course of study or community service – with a very modest government investment.
When 78 percent of Black student parents have no family financial support for college, as the Joint Center report found, funding college financial support is not only good for Black America – it’s in the nation’s long-term interest.
The budget bottom line should recognize the huge difference between a handout and a hand up.
Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
