The University has long been recognized as the number one public school for financial aid in the nation — 37 percent of its students receive federal aid, and it meets 100 percent of all demonstrated need. This status has been a cornerstone of the University’s commitment to affordability, ensuring that higher education remains accessible to students from all financial backgrounds. However, this distinction may now be at risk as sweeping federal cuts threaten the very programs that make such accessibility possible.
Recent policy changes — including mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education and an executive order aimed at dismantling the agency — threaten to disrupt the financial aid system that so many students rely on. With fewer federal staff managing FAFSA, student loan oversight and grant distribution, the University faces greater hurdles in ensuring students receive aid. Yet this cannot diminish the University’s dedication to financial accessibility. In this uncertain environment, the University must act creatively and strategically to ensure it can maintain its commitment to affordability.
March 11, the Department of Education announced a reduction in force, cutting its workforce by nearly half. 10 days later, President Trump signed an executive order with the intent to “begin eliminating the federal Department of Education,” leaving millions of students and universities uncertain about the future of financial support for higher education.
The Department plays a pivotal role in ensuring the effective administration of financial aid. Trained experts from the Department communicate with financial aid officers from schools across the country, including those at the University, to ensure that students receive the financial assistance they need. However, the recent workforce reductions have already begun to disrupt these operations. Of the nearly 2,000 laid-off employees, 320 were cut from the Office of Federal Student Aid, which oversees FAFSA. The day after these layoffs, students nationwide reported technical difficulties accessing and completing the FAFSA form. While the remaining department staff may work to resolve these issues, the loss of experienced personnel significantly weakens the system’s ability to provide timely and effective support.
With the new executive order in place, FAFSA and the administration of federal student loans for higher education could be moved to a new part of the government with fewer resources and less expertise. This movement, too, seems likely to have negative downstream effects on students who rely on financial aid. These effects could include a lack of support for completing the FAFSA, unavailability of informed guidance for University personnel administering loans and delays in processing. For 37 percent of the University’s students, these disruptions could mean delayed or incomplete financial aid packages, creating uncertainty about tuition payments and, eventually, enrollment decisions. This means that without intervention, these setbacks could create long-term barriers to higher education, disproportionately affecting students who depend on federal aid.
The University must recognize these recent orders as serious threats to its mission of providing affordable access for a diverse student body. Without a dedicated department overseeing student loans and financial assistance, students may struggle to receive the necessary support. Meanwhile, the uncertainty in regard to the future of many of the Department’s services, coupled with abrupt personnel reductions and grant funding cuts, could lead to long-term inefficiencies. These disruptions will inevitably have the greatest impact on lower- and middle-class students who rely on financial aid, and having such a disproportionate impact could widen the gap between those who can afford a degree and those who cannot.
The University has already established a wide array of programs intended to provide financial aid to students outside of traditional, federal pathways. Programs at the University like AccessUVA ensure financial aid for low and middle-income students. Amid the University’s largely successful efforts toward economic accessibility following the rollback of affirmative action, it has relied on these programs to ensure that talented students from diverse financial backgrounds can attend. When federal systems falter, the University should not only maintain but actively expand its financial aid institutions to fill the gaps, or otherwise risk losing its status as an innovator in the post-affirmative action landscape. This could mean increasing funding for AccessUVA, streamlining its aid application process, or providing additional resources for financial aid advising to ensure that students needing federal support are not left behind.
Many universities have announced hiring freezes to cut costs, but in order to preserve its commitment to affordability, the University should take the opposite approach. This means ensuring that financial aid services remain robust and accessible. A strong commitment to aid is the only way to ensure that financial uncertainty doesn’t become a roadblock to opportunity. If these executive actions are not met with appropriate countermeasures, uncertainty surrounding financial aid could deter prospective students, pricing out the lower and middle classes and exacerbating socioeconomic disparities in higher education. As the nation’s top public university for financial aid, the University has a responsibility to step up where the federal government is stepping back, ensuring students don’t lose access to higher education due to bureaucratic failures.
Ryan Cohen is a viewpoint writer who writes about economics, business and housing for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions represented in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the authors alone.
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