President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at reshaping the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, vowing to end what he calls its abuse by barring employees of organizations with “substantial illegal purposes” from receiving student debt relief.
Issued on March 7, 2025, the order—titled “Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness”—directs the Department of Education to rewrite eligibility rules, targeting groups Trump accuses of undermining national security and American values with taxpayer funds.
The PSLF program, launched by Congress in 2007, forgives student loans for public servants after 10 years of service and payments. Trump’s order blasts the prior Biden administration for exploiting a waiver process to forgive loans early, funneling billions to workers “years away” from qualifying.
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More pointedly, he claims the program has morphed into a subsidy for “activist organizations” engaged in “illegal activities”—like aiding illegal immigration, supporting terrorism, child trafficking, and disrupting public order—that “harm our national security.”
“As President of the United States, I have a duty to protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution and our national security, which includes ending the subsidization of illegal activities,” Trump wrote in the order’s preamble. He argues PSLF distorts incentives, inflating tuition costs and pushing students into debt-laden majors and nonprofits that “degrade our national interest,” necessitating further federal spending to fix the fallout.
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The order tasks Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in coordination with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to revise 34 C.F.R. 685.219 within months. The new rules would exclude employees of organizations involved in:
- Violating federal immigration laws, like 8 U.S.C. 1325;
- Supporting terrorism, including ties to cartels labeled as Foreign Terrorist Organizations;
- Child abuse, such as “chemical and surgical castration” of minors or trafficking them to “transgender sanctuary states”;
- Patterns of illegal discrimination; or
- Repeated state law violations, from trespassing to vandalism.
The move aligns with Trump’s broader agenda to slash federal spending and crack down on perceived ideological foes. Critics see it as a swipe at progressive nonprofits—think immigration advocacy groups or transgender rights organizations—while supporters cheer it as a return to fiscal and moral clarity.
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The White House insists it won’t affect legitimate public servants like teachers or firefighters, but the lack of a carve-out for individual roles within suspect organizations has unions on edge.
Trump touted the order, framing it as “fixing a broken system” exploited by “the radical left.”
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