The Trump administration moved core higher‑education functions out of the Department of Education and into the Department of Labor while pausing plans to garnish wages of defaulted student‑loan borrowers. The transfer folded the Higher Education Programs Division into Labor as part of an interagency ‘‘American Talent Strategy’’ and reflects a policy shift toward workforce alignment. Officials framed the move as better coordination between postsecondary programs and employer needs; Labor officials including Henry Mack described the shift as streamlining training and employer alignment. At the same time Under Secretary Nicholas Kent announced a temporary halt to Administrative Wage Garnishment and Treasury offsets, citing planned rollouts of new repayment rules under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The combination changes the federal architecture for student aid, program oversight and borrower enforcement. Campus leaders and advocates said the merger and the pause in collections create immediate operational uncertainty — from where program decisions will be made to which agency enforces compliance — while defaulted borrowers and fiscal watchdogs weigh the policy and political consequences.