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The One Big Beautiful Bill Act dramatically restructures federal student lending by altering borrowing limits, eliminating key loan programs, and accelerating repayment timelines.
Key changes include:
- Stricter limits on federal student borrowing
- Elimination of the Graduate PLUS Student Loan Program
- Phaseout of existing income-driven repayment plans
Beginning July 1, 2026, a substantially narrower set of repayment options for new federal loans comes into play.
Starting in July, students enrolled in programs designated as "professional degrees" will face an annual borrowing cap of $50,000 per year or $200,000 total.
Students in other graduate programs will be limited to $20,500 per year or $100,000 total. Notably, nursing degrees, along with degrees in physical therapy, public health, social work, and education, were excluded from the professional designation, despite requiring extensive training, licensure, and certification.
These changes raise serious concerns. It is not possible to strengthen our nursing workforce while simultaneously restricting access to the education required to enter the profession. Limiting federal loan availability threatens the pipeline of trained health care professionals and risks exacerbating existing workforce shortages and barriers to care.
In response, my colleagues and I are proposing the creation of a new state-level student loan program and expanded (change to expanding) access to the Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority (CHESLA) during the upcoming legislative session.
CHESLA is a state-created, nonprofit agency providing affordable financing, loans, scholarships, and financial literacy resources to help Connecticut students and families pay for college and manage student debt.
By establishing a state-level graduate loan program, we can protect students, strengthen our workforce, and ensure that higher education remains a pathway to opportunity, not a barrier, for the professionals our communities urgently rely upon.
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