FILE-Student loan borrowers hold a protest on June 30, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We The 45 Million)
The Trump administration has announced plans to dismantle portions of the Department of Education.
A series of new agreements shared Tuesday will shift major K-12 and higher education grant programs to federal government agencies like the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior and the State Department.
RELATED: Student loan forgiveness program getting Trump overhaul: What’s changing
The Department of Education will continue to oversee federal student loans and college accreditation, while also managing the country’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio and gathering data on school performance in the U.S.
Federal agencies to manage some Department of Education duties
Dig deeper:
This agreement calls for the Department of Labor to manage the work of the Office of Postsecondary Education and the duties of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which includes handling Title I, a federal funding stream that helps schools support low-income students, would do much of the work of the Office of Postsecondary Education.
RELATED: Judge blocks Trump’s order to shut down the Education Department
The Department of State will handle international education and foreign language studies programming, while the Department of the Interior would be responsible for the work of the Education Department's Office of Indian Education.
And the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee the Responsibility for the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program, which provides childcare on college campuses to low-income student-parents, NPR reported.
What they're saying:
"The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states," U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement from an agency release. "Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission.
How do these changes impact student loan borrowers?
Why you should care:
In October, the Trump administration agreed to cancel student loan debt for eligible borrowers under certain income-driven repayment plan programs, following a legal agreement between the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Department of Education.
To qualify for these plans, student loan borrowers must make 20 to 25 years of consecutive qualifying payments, depending on their loan origination date and plan enrollment.
RELATED: Department of Education sued by states over new loan forgiveness rule
Under the legal agreement, the Trump administration is required to cancel student debt for all eligible borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment (IDR), income-contingent repayment, Pay As You Earn, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs.
Furthermore, the Department of Education must also process IDR and PSLF "buyback" applications, including those from student loan borrowers who are no longer required to prove financial hardship.
Moreover, student loan borrowers whose loans are canceled on or before Dec. 31, 2025, will not receive IRS forms treating the forgiven balances as taxable income.
RELATED: Trump administration to limit student loan forgiveness for some borrowers working in public service
Student borrowers eligible to have their loan debts canceled this year will not be forced to pay a tax penalty because of changes in tax law.
Borrowers eligible for the student loan debt relief received email notifications from the Department of Education in October with options to accept forgiveness or opt out.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, his administration has overhauled Biden-era student loan forgiveness policies.
Changes to student debt forgiveness have been reflected in Trump’s tax bill, including lowering caps on graduate school borrowing for lower- and middle-income people and eliminating economic hardship deferment programs.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by a Department of Education release, previous LIVENOW from FOX reporting, FOX Business, Newsweek, NPR, and The New York Times. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.