The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will bring significant changes to the federal student loan program, particularly affecting graduate and professional students. It will eliminate the Graduate PLUS loan program, previously allowing full cost attendance borrowing, and impose a lifetime borrowing cap of $257,000. Effective July 1, 2026, changes will force future students to navigate less favorable options for financing their education. Moreover, nearly all income-driven repayment plans will be phased out in favor of a simpler but less generous single income-based repayment option.
With these sudden changes to federal loans right when I'm about to matriculate, it's pretty discouraging. I've been striving to reach med school for what feels like all my life, and to have everything I've worked for potentially jeopardized due to the Big Beautiful Bill is disheartening.
The bill will eliminate the Graduate PLUS loan program, which currently allows students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance for graduate or professional school.
The bill will also impose new caps on federal student borrowing, limiting students to a lifetime maximum of $257,000.
Those who plan on attending graduate or professional programs after that date, however, will be left with less favorable options: taking on private loans, adjusting their target schools, altering career goals, or abandoning graduate or professional school altogether.
#federal-student-loans #graduate-plus-loan #one-big-beautiful-bill #income-driven-repayment #higher-education
Collection
[
|
...
]