Taxing the non QEE as unearned income isn’t new; it’s been that way since 2013 (?) when the income was reclassified as unearned and taxed at the ‘kiddie tax’ rate. Before that it was taxed but I think it was under the student’s regular rate. (I didn’t have a kid in school at that time but I think that’s how it was).
What is new is that the kiddie tax rate went from the parents’ rate to the estates and trusts rates.