The Trump administration is wasting no time cleaning up what it sees as one of the most egregious economic boondoggles of the Biden era: federal student loan “forgiveness.” Education officials under President Trump are now on offense, hammering both Biden’s now-defunct debt relief policies and the bloated, left-wing universities that exploited them.
During a fiery appearance on Fox News, Dana Perino summed up the mood perfectly: “The gravy train is over.” And she’s right. For years, higher education has operated like a bloated cartel—jacking up tuition, expanding useless bureaucracies, and encouraging students to take out six-figure loans for gender theory degrees. All while expecting taxpayers to pick up the tab when reality hits.
“The gravy train is over”: @DanaPerino on the Trump administration ending Biden’s student loan forgiveness plans. pic.twitter.com/1BMQJMIFc6
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) April 22, 2025
It’s over now. Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon is taking the reins and laying out exactly how this mess will be cleaned up.
In a searing op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, McMahon pulled no punches: “Colleges and universities call themselves nonprofits, but for years they have profited massively off the federal subsidy of loans, hiking tuition and piling up multibillion-dollar endowments while students graduate six figures in the red.”
She pointed to a damning 2015 study showing that for every $1 increase in federal student loan caps, tuition rose by 60 cents. Translation? Colleges see student aid as a blank check, not a helping hand.
The Department of Education announced it will restart collections for more than 1.8 million borrowers currently in default, with an aggressive repayment push beginning May 5. McMahon confirmed that borrowers who continue to skip out will face credit consequences and wage garnishment.
“Debt doesn’t disappear. If you don’t pay it, someone else does. And that someone is the American taxpayer,” McMahon said.
She also torched Biden for dangling loan forgiveness as a campaign gimmick in 2020—despite knowing he had no legal authority to deliver on it. Even Nancy Pelosi said so.
“Biden racked up massive federal debt on empty promises to young voters. We’re putting an end to it,” McMahon stated. “We’re returning the Department of Education to its original mission: supporting responsible borrowers—not funding useless degrees and subsidizing Ivy League endowments.”
As tuition continues to skyrocket and degree values plummet, the Trump administration is sending a clear message: accountability is back. The free ride is over—for borrowers, for universities, and for the progressive elites who turned higher ed into a taxpayer-funded racket.