"For student loan borrowers, specifically, this will mean more delays and poorer service in a program that already has service issues," Drew Powers, the founder of Illinois-based Powers Financial Group, told Newsweek. "The end result is nothing but harm to our current students."

Now, Trump and McMahon are free to execute the layoffs and break up the department’s work among other federal agencies. Trump had campaigned on closing the department, and McMahon has said the department has one “final mission” to turn over its power to the states.