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Electing a new president means changes to how education is treated across the country. On November 8th, 2016 the United States elected Donald Trump as the President of the United States.

How will this effect Grand View University? President Kent Henning and the President’s Special Assistant Rob Barron sat down in an interview to explain what Grand View’s students and faculty might expect in the next four years.

Trump’s campaign did not seem to focus much on his plans for education. Trump introduced his plans for student loans being based more highly on income repayment. Also mentioned was the idea to eliminate the Federal Department of Education, but further details were never announced. The federal government is responsible for financial aid.

Since the President and Congress are republicans it is to be predicted that education is going to have a fiscally conservative tactic. And the higher education community might need to push for appropriate and needed funding.

President Henning said, “Prior to the election there was a lot of conversations about ‘skin in the game’ and that meant holding colleges and universities accountable for student loans and default rates.”

Special Assistant Barron said, “Federal student aid has grown over the years. Every year Congress sets and the White House approves the maximum Pell Grant. Over the last twenty years the Pell Grant has grown significantly and has allowed more students access to those funds and made college more affordable for them. And will be impacted in the next two years by the White House and Congress because they are not expected to grow Pell Grants.”

Henning said, “There are other issues that can have an impact on colleges and universities that go beyond education policy. I think probably the biggest impact on Grand View beyond education policy is economic policy. What happens in the economy generally has an impact on students and their families and has an impact on Grand View.”

The majority of the Trump campaign is vague, unclear policies and not just over education.

Barron believes that Congress will have a higher impact on education than President Trump in the future years.

“I would say that the higher education community right now, it doesn’t really know specifically what kind of an impact the Trump presidency will have,” Henning said.

“They didn’t really engage much which leaves people in our position a little confused as to what is going to happen next,” Barron said.

“I have no idea what the next four years are going to look like,” Baron said. “And there’s a lot of folks in my profession that really don’t know what the next four years are going to look like. What students should be worried about or thinking about is how we treat each other matters.”

Henning has little concern for Grand View University being effected directly by the Trump Presidency.

Donald Trump said, “We need to fix our broken education system!”