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JD Vance became vice president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2025.
Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps before attending The Ohio State University and Yale Law School.
Vance supports an official GOP platform that seeks to create affordable alternatives to traditional college degrees, rewrite Title IX regulations, and make college campuses "safe and patriotic again."
Vice President JD Vance was sworn into office alongside President Donald Trump on January 20.
Vance, 39, has been an outspoken critic of higher education during his time as an Ohio senator. However, Vance himself graduated from an Ivy League institution.
Following his graduation from Middletown High School outside of Cincinnati, Vance enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps where he served as a combat correspondent and completed one tour of duty in Iraq. After his return to civilian life, he attended The Ohio State University, earning a bachelor's degree in political science and philosophy in 2009.
After graduating, Vance attended Yale Law School, earning his Juris Doctor degree in 2013.
While in law school, Yale Professor Amy Chua encouraged Vance to write a book about his experiences growing up in Middletown.
Published in 2016, "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," earned a spot on The New York Times Best Seller list in both 2016 and 2017, with the publication calling it "one of the six best books to help understand Trump's win." The book was also adapted into a Netflix movie in 2020.
As his book garnered accolades, Vance visited at least 18 universities, including Yale and Ohio State, to deliver graduation speeches, lectures, or political talks, earning more than $70,000, according to reporting from The Associated Press. Vance praised universities for providing "high-quality talent" and "intellectual property necessary for folks to get their businesses off the ground."
But Trump's presidency — with Vance as his vice president — could have big implications for America's colleges and universities.
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"Cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children"
"Keep men out of women's sports"
"Deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again"
The platform also pledges to:
Support the creation of "additional, drastically more affordable alternatives to a traditional four-year college degree"
"Fire radical left accreditors, drive down tuition costs, restore due process protections, and pursue civil rights cases against schools that discriminate"
"Stop taxpayer-funded schools from promoting gender transition, reverse [President Joe] Biden's radical rewrite of Title IX education regulations, and restore protections for women and girls"
