On July 4 last year, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law, a sweeping legislation that touched on almost every aspect of American life from immigration to taxes to education. One such provision was caps on federal student loan borrowing, touching on one of Trump’s campaign promises to lower costs to higher education by restructuring federal funding.
Starting July 1, federal student loans will be capped at $100,000 cap on graduate degrees and $200,000 on professional degrees. Previously, students could finance advanced degrees with unlimited Grad PLUS loans, which were eliminated in the bill.
Given how these caps significantly alter how much federal aid one can use to pay for their graduate programs, there’s a growing contingent in Congress trying to shield one high-demand profession in particular from that cap: nurses.
“Following the President’s direction, we have taken a close look at every program funded in this bill and worked to codify the Trump Administration’s efforts to end senseless progressive overreach,” Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) said in the statement. “This bill advances educational opportunities, restores accountability, and ensures taxpayer dollars are directed towards core functions like biomedical research, biodefense infrastructure, and rural health.”
The budget amendment is part of the federal budget, meaning that this year’s nursing borrowers will still have a $100,000 cap until Oct. 1 at the earliest, were the bill to become law.
