By: Claudia Casal Montserrat

Games editor

Since the inauguration of the Trump administration, education has become a battleground, with many issues ranging from transgender rights to political activism becoming subjects of debate. Some examples of the attacks on higher education from 2025 include the federal government greatly reducing the Department of Education, filing lawsuits against several universities for providing financial aid to illegal immigrants, and cutting funding to many universities, including Northwestern University, Cornell University, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Towards the end of September, Trump announced a rule banning federal student loans for programs whose graduates do not out-earn someone with a high school diploma. However, the Trump administration fails to recognize that the value of a diploma or profession is not solely defined by one’s income after graduation. Student loans and federal funding for university students should not be dependent upon the average post-graduation salary.

According to the Urban Institute, 30-40% of all undergraduates rely on federal student loans to complete their education. Moreover, Congress states that approximately 61% of all graduate students borrow federal student aid money, with rates much higher for medical and doctoral degrees. Social work students are among the groups facing cuts to federal student loans. Despite their lower salaries, social workers are essential to American communities and are growing in demand. As the National Association of Social Workers noted: “Social workers show up every day in schools, hospitals, rural clinics, and community centers across this country. They carry caseloads that would exhaust most people, often in communities that have been written off by other systems. With these cuts, it is harder for social workers to afford the education that qualifies them to do this work, and this is a direct harm to the communities they serve.” Social workers who don’t receive adequate financial aid may turn to other professions or degrees, potentially leading to a shortage of social workers and the good they accomplish in communities. 

Even so, starting salaries for certain majors do not accurately reflect workers’ earnings later on in their careers. For example, The New York Times determined that later on in their careers, majors like social science and history catch up to the salaries of conventionally high-earning degrees, like engineering and computer science. This is because a liberal arts education encourages “soft skills”—like critical thinking, problem solving, and adaptability—that do not directly lead to a higher salary but are often invaluable in many careers.

Regardless, a profession’s salary is not representative of its importance or value to society. It’s a wonder that one of the richest countries in the world can no longer support its poets, artists, and social workers.

(Sources: Congress, LA Times, NASW, NYT, US News, Urban Institute)