Medical students fret over student loan cap in 'big, beautiful bill'

A provision tucked inside a sweeping bill signed into law by Trump last week will make it harder for aspiring doctors to finance their education as the country faces a growing shortage in that profession.

A provision tucked inside a sweeping bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last week will make it harder for thousands of aspiring doctors to finance their education as the country faces a growing shortage in that profession.

The move will cap the amount of federal loans students can borrow for graduate school to $20,500 a year — with a total limit of $100,000 — and cap loans for professional programs, such as medical, dental or law school, at $50,000 a year, with a total limit of $200,000.

While those limits may sound like large amounts, medical school students graduate with an average of more than $264,000 in educational debt and the cost of medical school programs can exceed $300,000 at private universities, according to the Education Data Initiative. ​​Without the ability to take out more federal loans, prospective students say they will have to turn to private loans, which can have stricter borrowing or repayment options, or potentially put off their medical school plans.

“I have watched a lot of students get into debt, and it is scary, but part of the medical training and the medical education system, it’s an expensive journey. I think that it’s something that the government needs to understand,” said Zoe Lewczak, a 26-year-old bioethics master’s student at Harvard Medical School, who is in the process of applying to 30 schools for MD-Ph.D. programs. “What is currently happening, I think this is going to create a major gap in who is able to access medical education and pursue it.”

The legislation, which Republicans have dubbed the “one big, beautiful bill,” largely focuses on providing trillions of dollars in tax cuts for businesses, increased spending for immigration enforcement and cuts to health insurance programs. But within the nearly 900-page law are several changes to student loan programs, including the elimination of a loan program put in place in 2006 called Grad PLUS, which allows students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance.