Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blasted the Trump administration, saying the Department of Education’s rule limiting student loan programs targets women-dominated fields.
“I want to be very clear that what the Trump administration is doing, specifically, is attacking women’s ability to get an education,” Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday during the “It Shouldn’t Be This Hard” town hall in Escanaba, Michigan, with Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed.
Under the DOE’s new rule, Student Tuition and Transparency System and Earnings Accountability, announced in June, undergraduate programs will need to show proof that their graduates earn more money than those without a college degree, and graduate programs need to show that their graduates earn more money than an individual with a bachelor’s degree. If they fail to show enough return on investment, they will be disqualified from federal student loan programs.
News about the rule recirculated in September with a Los Angeles Times article, suggesting fields like social work and mental health programs were at risk.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the DOE will prevent federal student loan access for college programs that don’t earn enough postgraduation.
“Because they put down that list on what they’re making harder, what they’re not going to give people student loans for, and it’s nurses, it’s teachers, it’s social workers,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “They don’t want women to go to college.”
Social work, education, and nursing are among “occupations with the largest share of women workers,” ranging from 83% to 97.4% in 2024, according to the Department of Labor. Ocasio-Cortez said when people “make a business” out of education, communities get left behind.
“I’m from the Bronx, where we desperately need doctors and have some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The DOE responded on X to an article by the New Republic in September, which cited the Los Angeles Times’s report, calling it “fake news.”
“This is fake news at its finest,” the DOE said. “First off, we’re not ‘banning’ any program. The federal government doesn’t set curriculum or programs. Here’s the truth: we are holding colleges accountable for leaving students worse off than if they never enrolled. Too many graduates report delaying major life milestones like buying a home or starting a family. Why? Because low return-on-investment programs saddled them with unmanageable debt that was never going to translate into a real-world job. Federal student loans are not a welfare program for failing college programs. American students deserve education and training pathways that prepare them for the workforce — and transparency about programs that will never pay off.”
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The progressive Democrat said public universities should have free tuition and loans shouldn’t have interest, regardless of degrees.
“And beyond that, we have to really be asking ourselves, what is the utility of putting people in indentured servitude their entire lives for seeking an education?” Ocasio-Cortez said.