Despite having “education” in its title, the Department of Education (ED) is just one federal entity supporting students (of all ages, we should add). Other agencies, including the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and even the VA, support students, primarily with funding or specialized programs.
What does the Department of Education do? What doesn’t it do?
According to the Education Department, education is primarily a local and state responsibility rather than a federal one. The department does not mandate curriculum and is prohibited by Congress from doing so.
The department is also fairly hands-off when it comes to elementary and secondary education, which are mostly funded by local governments. Meanwhile, state governments support higher education. But the Education Department does supplement funding for K-12 students, college students, and other adults through grants and program funding.
How do elementary and secondary schools use Education Department funds?
The Education Department primarily funds grades K-12 through programs that support economically disadvantaged school systems:
- Title I provides funding for children from low-income families. This funding is allocated to state and local education agencies based on census poverty estimates. In 2023, these funds amounted to over $18 billion.
- Annual funding to state and local governments supports special education programs to meet the needs of children with disabilities. In 2023, it was nearly $15 billion.
- School improvement programs, which amount to nearly $6 billion each year, award grants to schools for initiatives to improve educational outcomes, such as retention and educational program completion.
In addition to funding, the National Center for Education Statistics, an agency within the department, gathers and reports data on K-12 educational institutions so schools and researchers can better analyze enrollment, finances, and performance metrics between schools and districts.
What role does Education Department funding play in higher education?
The ED administers two programs to support college students: Pell Grants and the federal student loan program.
Pell Grants provide assistance to college students based on their family’s ability to pay. The maximum amount for a student in the 2024–25 school year is $7,395. In a typical year, Pell Grant funding totals around $30 billion.
The federal student loan program subsidizes students by offering more generous loan terms than they would receive in the private loan market, including income-driven repayment plans, scheduled debt forgiveness, lower interest rates, and deferred payments.
Student debt relief lead to higher federal education spending in FY 2022. Spending decreased in 2023 following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Biden administration’s loan forgiveness plan.
Therefore, the department’s share of the federal budget, which has historically been around 2%, temporarily increased to 10.2% in 2022, before returning to 4.0% in 2024.
What else does the Department of Education do?
The ED’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services supports disabled adults by giving states vocational rehabilitation grants. These grants match state vocational rehabilitation agency funds that help people with disabilities find jobs. Typically, these grants total around $4 billion a year.
The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education also spends around $2 billion per year in state and local governments on career and technical education offered in high schools, community and technical colleges, and on adult education programs including GED and adult literacy programs.
It is also home to the Institute of Education Sciences, which funds education research, and disseminates findings and statistics about education in the US.
What federal education programs exist outside of the Education Department?
- The Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the Department of the Interior, operates the Bureau of Indian Education to improve tribal education programs. Its budget is generally $1 billion to $2 billion.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides educational benefits to people who served in the armed forces. Programs like the GI Bill support veterans with education and job training. VA programs usually total around $13 billion per year.
- The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) administered by the Department of Agriculture, provides free or reduced-cost meals for eligible students. The NSLP spent $17 billion on school lunches in FY 2023. The Department of Agriculture’s School Breakfast Program costs around $5 billion per year.
- The nationwide Head Start program to prepare preschool-aged children for elementary school is largely funded by grants from the Administration for Children and Families, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Annual outlays typically total around $12 billion.
- Individual income tax rules provide tax credits for higher education expenses that can be claimed either by the student or by taxpayers who claim the student as a dependent. These credits amount to around $10 billion annually.
Additional federal support for higher education
Public colleges and universities receive additional federal funding for various purposes. For example, the National Science Foundation is a large provider of grant funding to higher education institutions.
Also, because many state universities run hospital systems, these institutions receive large payments from federal healthcare programs.
The Library of Congress, funded by Legislative Branch Appropriations, is part of the nation’s library system, providing resources and information for researchers and the general public on a wide range of topics.
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Page sources and methodology
All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.
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