WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – The announcement of recent mass firings within the Department of Education has many questioning who will manage student loans if the agency is dismantled.

For now, the Education Department said it will continue to manage the federal student loan portfolio, which totals around $1.5 trillion in student loan debt for over 40 million borrowers.

In a statement released Tuesday, the department said it will “continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”

Tuesday’s layoffs impacted nearly half of the agency’s workforce or about 1,300 employees leaving roughly 2,183 workers still employed with the department.

“Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.

The announcement of mass layoffs comes as President Donald Trump pledges to dismantle the department.

 It would take an act of Congress to fully shutter the agency, but if that that were to happen, President Trump has indicated that student loans will most likely be overseen by a different agency.

“I don’t think the Education [Department] should be handling the loans,” he said from the Oval Office last week. “That’s not their business.”

The president suggested that student loans could be handled by the Department of Treasury, the Small Business Administration (SBA) or the Department of Commerce.

“So, the loans would be brought into a group where they really do that. That is, by the way, the most complicated thing in moving, but it’s very simple if you do that,” Trump said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.