Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As the Trump Administration continues to slash away at the Department of Education, some experts are concerned about what this means for future college students.
Founder of Courier Prep, Brian Eldridge, says students are expected to be transferred over to the Small Business Administration (SBA), however, he isn't sure the switch will be seamless.
"I just don't understand bureaucratically, how seamless of like anything you know, at this level, how seamless a transition it really will be. I do think that there'll be a bit of chaos, because the layoffs already have proven that. They've gutted certain departments that were responsible specifically for that. So you're sort of handing it over to a department with maybe just not a lot of experience with the portfolio that big when it comes to loan disbursement," stated Eldridge in an interview with WBEN.
Eldridge explains it's unclear what next year will look like as there is plenty of questions that still need to be answered.
"The big question marks are, 'Hey, is it going to affect when we fill out financial aid for next year? Are we still going to have subsidized, unsubsidized loans, Parent Plus loans, and will the process be as quote unquote seamless as it is now?' It's a pretty smooth system when it just comes to that level of borrowing. I'm not talking about any of the income driven repayments, or the Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or any of those plans, which I think that's where the most disruption is going to be felt. You very well could be looking at if things become as dire as maybe forecast in on that tier, that you will really see defaults and borrowers having significant difficulty repaying," stated Eldridge.
Mike Shaver, a college advisor with The Financial Guys, says even if the government is still going to provide student loans, there might be a decline in enrollment next year.
"Whenever you introduce uncertainty to the student, to the parents, they you might be in a situation where a parent might want to say, 'take a gap year. There's too much unknowns. We can't necessarily afford it, worried about taking on too much debt.' Some students may, after high school, not apply, take a gap year and think about it," stated Shaver.
