Education Department launches hiring spree in key office, roughly a year after mass layoffs

The Trump administration is aggressively expanding staffing at the Federal Student Aid office—a division it has repeatedly targeted for elimination—despite pledging to dismantle the program. An internal presentation obtained by POLITICO reveals a sharp contrast between rhetoric and action, as the agency ramps up hiring amid broader efforts to reshape higher education funding. The move underscores ongoing tensions between policy promises and operational realities within the Education Department. Critics and advocates alike are likely to scrutinize whether the push reflects a strategic shift or a temporary workaround in the administration’s long-term plans.

The Trump administration has launched a hiring blitz at the agency it vowed to eliminate, according to an internal presentation reviewed by POLITICO. The Education Department’s Federal Student Aid ...