Eliminate the Department of Education? A Conversation with Dr. Beth Akers

Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw

Dan Crenshaw

Politics, Energy, Healthcare, News, World, Society & Culture, Regulations, Finance, America, Freedom

4.6 • 16K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Following this week’s major reforms at USAID, the Trump Administration has signaled that the Department of Education (DoEd) is next on the chopping block. Education expert Dr. Beth Akers joined Rep. Crenshaw to discuss the implications of eliminating DoEd, some much needed reforms to student loan programs, and the pathway to empowering parents and local communities to revamp K-12 education.

Dr. Beth Akers is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on the economics of higher education. She is the author of Making College Pay: An Economist Explains How to Make a Smart Bet on Higher Education. Follow her on X at @DrBethAkers.

The layman’s explanation of what the DoEd does

Would eliminating the DoEd end education grants?

What happens if the DoEd is eliminated?

Stats on student loan debt

Who benefits from student loan forgiveness?

The correlation between student loans and rising tuition

Should university endowment programs be taxed?

Streamlining student loan programs

Opening PELL grants to trade schools and other pathways to a successful career

The debate over school choice

Rethinking K-12 education and turning state education curriculums into labs of democracy

How the USAID reforms are paving the way for broader changes

Transcript

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0:00.0	We hold these truths to be self-evident.
0:02.1	That all men are created.
0:03.4	As a member of Congress, I get to have a lot of really interesting people in the office.
0:07.3	Experts on what they're talking about.
0:08.9	This is the podcast for insights into the issues.
0:11.6	China, bioterrorism, Medicare for all, in-depth discussions.
0:16.0	Breaking it down into simple terms.
0:17.9	We hold.
0:18.7	We hold these truths.
0:20.1	We hold these truths. with Dan Crenshaw.
0:23.7	Welcome back to Hold These Truth, best podcast ever give it five stars. This is a timely conversation
0:30.7	because you've heard a lot about on the news is eliminating a number of things at warp speed, but one of them being the Department of Education.
0:40.4	And look, this dates all the way back to the Reagan days.
0:43.9	He wanted to eliminate the Department of Education.
0:46.8	It was unsuccessful.
0:47.7	It was created in 1979, I believe.
0:50.9	Trump has even said that his Department of Education nominee, Linda McMahon, should put herself
0:55.8	out of a job. And so I want to unpack what the heck this department even does. Does it affect
1:01.7	people when you put the word education and something and also elimination? It scares the heck out
1:06.0	of people. So we have an expert with us today, Dr. Beth Akers from American Enterprise Institute.
1:11.4	Thanks for being with us.
1:12.4	Thanks so much for having me.
	...

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