Trump’s New College Rule Could Make Social Work and Arts Degrees a Luxury

The Trump administration has apparently decided that the problem with underpaid social workers, teaching aides and artists is not their terrible pay. The problem is that ordinary people can still borrow money to enter those professions.

A final Education Department rule will connect a college program’s eligibility for federal Direct Loans to its graduates’ earnings. The Los Angeles Times summarised the consequences bluntly:

“College students pursuing majors, advanced degrees or certifications in fields that consistently earn low incomes will no longer be able to take out federal loans.”

The reality is slightly more complicated than a blanket ban on particular degrees. Beginning July 1, 2027, undergraduate programs must show that their median graduate earns more than working adults aged 25 to 34 who hold only high school diplomas. Graduate programs will be compared with bachelor’s degree holders. Graduate programs will face a similar comparison with bachelor’s degree holders. The department will measure earnings four years after graduation using IRS data.

A program that fails in two out of three consecutive years will lose access to federal Direct Loans for at least two years. Schools may receive permission to let existing students finish, but they would have to stop admitting new students to the failing program.

Cosmetology certificates, arts programs and some graduate programs in mental health and social services face the greatest risk. The Education Department estimates that around 3 percent of bachelor’s and advanced-degree programs at public and nonprofit institutions could fail. The figure rises to approximately 33 percent at for-profit colleges.

There is a reasonable argument for holding predatory schools accountable. Colleges should not charge life-changing sums for programs that offer students little chance of repaying the debt. The high projected failure rate among for-profit institutions suggests that plenty of scrutiny is overdue.

However, an earnings-only test confuses low wages with low social value.

America needs social workers to respond to homelessness, addiction, abuse and mental-health crises. It needs teaching aides, artists and trained care workers. Many of these occupations pay badly because governments and employers refuse to fund them properly. Punishing the programs that train those workers completes a particularly absurd circle: underpay the profession, declare the resulting salary proof that the education lacks value, and then restrict access to that education.

The rule will not stop wealthy students from pursuing these careers because their families can simply pay. Other students may have to find scholarships, institutional support or private loans, which generally lack the protections offered by federal borrowing. Access will increasingly favour people with family money or private credit.

Reduced enrolment could also encourage universities to close vulnerable departments, further shrinking the supply of qualified workers. Society cannot function on engineers, executives and finance graduates alone.

Elections have consequences, but this policy is not merely a memo that disappears after the midterms. It implements provisions of Trump’s 2025 tax law through a final Education Department rule. Reversing it will require lawmakers willing to challenge both the regulation and the statute behind it.

Apparently, America’s response to essential workers being underpaid is to make it harder for anyone without wealthy parents to become one.