As president, he tackled discrimination in intercollegiate athletics, segregation in the nation’s public colleges, and fraud in student-aid programs. He sought to reduce student-loan defaults, and he oversaw a sharp increase in spending on student aid.
Carter also left a lasting imprint on education policy by expanding federal aid to middle-income students. But his actions also sparked fierce debate over the federal role in education and over who should benefit from federal aid — fights that persist today.
In a statement mourning the death of the former president, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona wrote: “Everything we do here at the Department to raise the bar for America’s students is part of President Jimmy Carter’s lasting legacy.”
Carter attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology before receiving his B.A. from the U.S. Naval Academy, in 1946. While serving in the Navy, he took courses in reactor technology and nuclear physics at Union College, in New York.
It took Carter almost three years as president to achieve the goal of a free-standing Education Department, partly because he faced pushback from some members of his cabinet and Congress, who didn’t want to give up jurisdiction over education programs then under their purview. (At the time, education was buried in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, with programs scattered across several other agencies.)
Colleges, meanwhile, were divided on the plan, with some hoping the increased visibility would translate into additional money for education, and others worrying that it would increase government intrusion into academe.
When the House finally passed legislation creating the department, in 1979, it was a major victory for the president. At a signing ceremony he said his “best move for the quality of life in America may well be the establishment of this department.” He also sought to reassure those who worried about federal interference, saying that while “the federal government is there, eager to help,” the primary responsibility for education would remain with state and local agencies.
More than 40 years later, it appears that both the supporters and skeptics of the department were right. Spending on education programs has increased sharply since the 1970s, as has the federal role in higher education. In 1980 the department’s budget was $14 billion; in 2021 it was $95.5 billion.
The department now plays a major role in the life of colleges, for better or worse. Regulations have multiplied, and federal oversight has increased. While the department has withstood repeated Republican attempts to abolish it, some colleges have begun to question the wisdom of its creator.