UP community colleges react to Supreme Court ruling on restructuring of Department of Education

UPPER MICHIGAN (WLUC) - On Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with restructuring the Department of Education.

The court’s ruling puts a temporary hold on an earlier ruling by a Massachusetts judge. That ruling would have required the Department of Education to rehire nearly 1,400 fired employees.

The Department of Education oversees financial aid and disseminates research on best practices in education. So far, Upper Peninsula community colleges are seeing little impact from the Department of Education’s staff reduction.

As for the future, Bay College’s Vice President of Student Affairs Travis Blume says the school isn’t worried about losing financial aid.

“We’re not concerned about a disruption,” Blume said. “I think the information that’s coming out is very new around the changes that were approved recently that we’re waiting to hear how those changes will affect operations both at the Department of Education and how that operation may affect us and how we serve our students.”

Gogebic Community College President Chris Patritto says there’s a lot of uncertainty. He says because community colleges have limited assets, they do worry some.

“For us, and I think most, it’s a lot of uncertainty,” Patritto said. “There’s the concern because resources are limited. Small community colleges, your resources are limited, and you provide a lot of services.”

Patritto says the top priority is the students.

“The big worry is how everything’s going to affect students,” Patritto said. “Because that’s what we’re here for. We want the best for our students.”

We reached out to four-year institutions in the state for comment. Northern Michigan University and Michigan Technological University responded, saying they are watching developments but do not have any further comment at this time.

Exactly how these changes in the Department of Education will affect our nation’s schools remains to be seen.

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