Following a 218-214 vote in the House of Representatives on July 3, with two Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition, President Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R.1) into law on July 4.
The legislation aims to decrease spending by an estimated $1.1 trillion over 10 years, including for Medicare, restricted eligibility for welfare programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and extended various tax cuts, decreasing federal revenue by $4.5 trillion. It also eliminates Grad PLUS loans and implements student loan caps for undergraduate students and those going to graduate or professional school.
H.R. 1 eliminates Grad PLUS funding, a type of federal student loan. The Department of Education designed Grad PLUS to help graduate and professional students pay for education costs not covered by other financial aid. The bill also imposes new annual loan caps — $20,500 for graduate school students, with a total lifetime limit of $100,000, and $50,000 for professional schools such as law and medical students, with a lifetime limit of $200,000.
According to U.S. News & World Report, the cost of annual tuition and fees exceeds $80,000 for many top law schools. The median total cost of attending a four-year public medical school is $268,476, and the median cost for private medical schools is $363,836, according to the Princeton Review.
Co-Presidents of Vanderbilt College Democrats Melanie Gerko, a senior, and Drew Spiegel, a junior, described H.R. 1 as “abhorrent” and “cruel.”
“[It] will have devastating consequences across our entire country,” Gerko and Spiegel said in a message to The Hustler. “This includes making it more difficult for lower-income students to attend college, one of the many policies included so that Republicans could cut taxes for billionaires. Trump’s reckless agenda takes student loan and college pricing reform in the wrong direction and will jeopardize the future of millions of lower income Americans who seek to attend college.”
Senior Noah Jenkins, Chairman of the Tennessee College Republicans and President Emeritus of Vanderbilt College Republicans, expressed optimism about the changes to student loans.
“By limiting the amount of loans that the government doles out, the government is in part reversing the effect that reforms in the 1950s and 1960s had on the market for higher education that significantly inflated the demand for higher education,” Jenkins said. “As basic supply-demand economics would have it, the cost of higher education soared in the following decades, even after taking inflation into account.”
Jenkins also added that he thinks colleges and universities are not meant for everyone, and that a student loan limit could turn some people away to different avenues of achieving credentials.
“In much of higher education, college has become a glorified credentialing service that your average person doesn’t truly need. Of course, the reality is that many jobs require such credentialing, a problem in and of itself,” Jenkins said.
Parents of graduate or professional students under a dependent status also have maximum borrowing limits on Federal Direct PLUS loans. Per year, qualifying parents can borrow up to $20,000, with an aggregate lifetime amount of $65,000, regardless of loan repayment or forgiveness.
Beginning July 1, 2026, when the law is set to take effect, the maximum amount of guaranteed loans that a student may borrow will be $257,500. This does not take into account income, repayment options or loan type.
H.R. 1 does not block medical residents from Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which the Association of American Medical Colleges advocated for in a June 5 letter to Senate leadership.
Loan repayment programs will also transition to an income-based repayment program with a set time frame.
Junior Carson Oakes described how he believes this new law will affect him and his educational goals.
“As a college student relying on financial aid to attain my education, I find the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ deeply disappointing,” Oaks said. “While it’s packed with grand language and political fanfare, it fails to address the core issue facing low-income students and citizens around the United States: affordability.”
Additionally, Oakes said he believes this law will reduce federal funding for students who rely on Pell Grants and need-based aid in favor of merit-based scholarships that benefit students from more privileged backgrounds.
“The Big Beautiful Bill reinforces the gap between those who can afford college comfortably and those who must fight for every opportunity,” Oaks said. “If this is supposed to be a vision for the future of education, then it’s a vision that leaves students like me behind.”
In a statement to The Hustler, a university representative said the university will continue to push for information.
“For now, we continue to advocate for thoughtful implementation, including clarity on how graduate vs. professional degree programs will be categorized, an important distinction that may affect the borrowing caps,” the university representative said. “Our enrollment and financial aid teams are also carefully reviewing the potential implications in order to help students understand their options and identify potential aid gaps.”
Furthermore, the university said it will continue to monitor decisions and guidance from the Department of Education and advise students and staff on next steps.
Junior Omar Hernandez, president of the Mexican American Student Association, emphasized what this new bill could mean for the Hispanic/Latino population on Vanderbilt’s campus.
“As a student and peer to many pursuing law, medicine and postgraduate paths, I know how unsettling this bill feels, especially for first [generation] and low-income students already facing steep challenges,” Hernandez said. “But we as Latinos are already breaking barriers, and we will continue to. I hope institutions like Vanderbilt continue to stand by us in meaningful ways as these challenges unfold.”
Senior Carolina Alvarado, president of the Association of Latin American Students, mentioned how the bill targets and negatively affects first-generation students in their access to higher education.
“The limits that the Big Beautiful Bill places on loan borrowing disproportionately affect students who come from low-income households and first-generation college students, a large portion of which are first-generation Americans as well,” Alvardo said. “This legislation does so much harm to the movement for greater accessibility of education and will eventually dissuade those who cannot afford it from pursuing higher education.”
