President Donald Trump has directed the interim chief of the U.S. Division of Training’s federal pupil support workplace to function performing secretary of schooling till the U.S. Senate confirms his choose for the position.
Denise Carter will lead the division within the early days of the brand new administration till the Senate confirms Linda McMahon—the previous WWE CEO and former U.S. Small Enterprise Administration chief—to the position. McMahon’s Senate affirmation listening to hasn’t but been scheduled.
Becoming a member of McMahon in management of the division might be Penny Schwinn, the previous Tennessee schooling commissioner whom Trump has tapped as deputy schooling secretary.
Carter’s designation as performing secretary was amongst greater than 30 related appointments Trump made on his first day shortly after taking the oath of workplace. After two speeches on the U.S. Capitol, Trump sat all the way down to signal a sequence of actions that formally started his second time period. Appearing division leaders should come from inside the company they’re main and may typically serve as much as 210 days beneath federal regulation.
Carter has served because the federal pupil support workplace’s performing chief working officer since July 2024. Earlier than that, she served a short stint as principal deputy chief working officer for pupil support, transferring into that position after the division, beneath former Secretary Miguel Cardona, got here beneath fireplace for its bungled replace of the Free Utility for Federal Pupil Help, or FAFSA, and pupil support director Richard Cordray stepped down.
Earlier than becoming a member of the coed support workplace, Carter served as performing assistant secretary and chief monetary officer within the Training Division’s workplace of finance and operations, based on an company biography.
The scholar support staff inside the Training Division handles billions of {dollars} in pupil monetary support and loans. Federal Pupil Help supplied $121 billion in federal pupil grants, loans, and work-study funds to almost 10 million college students at roughly 5,400 schools and profession colleges throughout fiscal 12 months 2024, based on the division. On the finish of the identical fiscal 12 months, there have been greater than 45 million debtors holding roughly $1.6 trillion in federal pupil loans.
Because the Biden administration’s makes an attempt at expansive pupil debt reduction had been dashed by authorized challenges—although the administration nonetheless forgave loans for hundreds of thousands of debtors—Carter led programming to supply sources and assist for debtors who resumed mortgage repayments after a three-year pause.
The division was, simply days forward of Trump’s inauguration, outlining methods to maintain debtors from defaulting on their loans beneath the brand new administration, based on an NBC report. For the primary time in years, those that fail to make funds on their debt can face wage garnishment.
Earlier than becoming a member of the Training Division, Carter labored within the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies as deputy assistant secretary for human sources and as chief human capital officer. She was accountable for providers for that company’s employees of greater than 90,000, based on her biography.
