How Trump Paywalled Our Colleges—Opinion

This story is part of our monthly series, Campus Dispatch. Read the rest of the stories in the series here.

I finished my master’s degree in public diplomacy this August, wrapping up my educational journey. My undergraduate and graduate degrees have been the result of years of hard work and perseverance, marked by countless late nights finishing homework and early work days.

I paid for it all with a mix of part-time work and government support. Without statewide grants, subsidized and unsubsidized loans, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and paid internships, I wouldn’t have had a shot at living away from home to pursue my education—let alone live the college experience.

I’m not alone: 76 percent of graduate students work at least 30 hours per week, and 40 percent of full-time undergraduate students work while in school. According to the think tank Urban Institute, 30-to-40 percent of undergraduate students take out federal loans. Plus, as of 2020, nearly 600,000 college students relied on SNAP to afford food.

That’s why, when President Donald Trump signed H.R.1, or the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, on July 4, it felt like the White House was slamming the door behind me, cutting off vital pathways for lower-income students to achieve higher education.

The sweeping new law stripped billions of dollars from food, health, and education programs that are vital for students nationwide, all while granting tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy Notably, it cuts federal student aid programs like the Grad PLUS loan and caps Parent PLUS loans starting in 2026. Both loan programs have historically helped students from marginalized and underserved communities get an education.

For many students, these cuts will create real barriers to staying in school and affording basic needs—from books to breakfast. The BBB sends a clear message: Higher education is no longer a right in America, but instead a private luxury available only to those who can afford it.

Slashing student loans

“The way I’ve been thinking about [the bill’s impact] is in two different ways: One is the tangible, physical cost to students,” said Dr. Zoë Corwin, a research professor at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. “The physical ramifications of the bill, and not having enough financial aid, means that’s just a huge barrier to students from low-income backgrounds. There’s also the symbolic violence that’s happening right now, too; students are getting messages like they maybe don’t belong in higher ed.”

The BBB codifies this exclusion into policy and practice.

Beginning in 2026, the law will limit Parent PLUS loans to $20,000 per year and $65,000 total cap per dependent student. This represents a significant drop from the current policy, which allows parents to borrow up to the full cost of attendance not covered by the student’s financial aid, with no cumulative limit. This new cap on Parent PLUS loan amounts could lead many low- and middle-income families to seek alternative funding sources, such as private loans, to cover the gap.

The change will likely affect students of color most acutely.

From 1996 to 2018, there was a substantial increase in the number of Black, Latinx, and Asian students whose parents’ made less than $30,000 a year using Parent PLUS loans, according to Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. The Parent PLUS loan program has been a vital resource for low-income parents and parents of color, allowing parents of current undergraduate students to receive a federal loan to help cover the costs of their students’ college or university education.

Congress initially designed the program to help wealthier families afford their children’s college costs. But it has since become a key resource in ensuring that lower-income and middle-class families can “cover the gap between the amount the student can obtain in Pell Grants”—federal grants for low-income students—“and federal student loans and the cost of attendance,” according to the National Consumer Law Center.

“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,” Carolina Alvarado, Vanderbilt University student and president of the school’s Association of Latin American Students, told student newspaper the Vanderbilt Hustler.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Education, about 3.5 million people currently hold Parent PLUS loans. The loans make up about 6.7 percent of student loan debt, according to a recent data analysis by the Education Data Initiative. With rising tuition and expenses, coupled with state funding failing to keep pace, the Parent PLUS loan program has led to growing intergenerational debt as low-and middle-income parents take on substantial loans to support their children’s education.

“These families are going to have to figure out additional ways to subsidize a post-secondary education, [which] likely means going to the private market to do that, and private loans are less forgiving,” said Emmanual Guillory, senior director of government relations at the American Council on Education, an organization focused on higher education advocacy and public policy.

Trump’s new law will also eliminate the Grad PLUS loan program, capping graduate student borrowing at $20,500 per year with a lifetime limit of $100,000 (students in certain programs, like medical and law school, can borrow up to $50,000 per year for a maximum of $200,000, according to the Urban Institute). Previously, students could borrow up to the cost of attendance for a graduate or professional program, after potential financial assistance, per the financial tech company Credible. For many middle-class students pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees—including myself—these loans are more than just financial aid; they are a lifeline.

By scaling back federal loan borrowing limits, the Trump spending bill opens the door for private lenders—including banks and credit unions—to enter the education market at full force. These loans are often more expensive than federal student loans, as interest rates are higher and may not be fixed. For example, the current federal interest rate for Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS loans is 8.94 percent, while private parent loans can have interest rates ranging from 3.19 percent to 25.96 percent and graduate loans have rates between 2.89 percent and 15.71 percent, according to recent estimates.

Private lenders typically have stricter repayment terms as well, with loan payments potentially beginning while the student is still in school. Unlike government student loans, private loans do not offer loan forgiveness and often require a standing credit history to qualify.

Guillory also mentioned that members of Congress who supported the “big, beautiful bill” claimed that the goal of these provisions was to pressure colleges and universities to lower costs by reducing access to student aid. But history shows that, time and time again, higher education institutions have prioritized revenue over affordability.

“[P]erhaps an unintended outcome would be a decrease in access due to a decrease in federal student aid that our low-income, low-wealth families so desperately need,” said Guillory, of the American Council on Education.

Gutting SNAP access

The BBB won’t affect only student budgets—it may also affect their diets.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the new federal budget bill contains “the largest cut to SNAP in history,” with estimates forecasting a $186 billion cut to federal food assistance through 2034.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that in 2020, an estimated 23 percent of college students were food-insecure, meaning they didn’t have adequate access to food. At community colleges, this strain is perhaps most acute. Nearly 30 percent of community college students face food insecurity. Student who are parents, low-income students, and students of color were found to be especially vulnerable.

Housing and food account for just over half of community college students’ budgets, per the Center for American Progress, so the budget reconciliation bill’s cuts to SNAP, combined with low program awareness and new, tighter eligibility requirements, will place more barriers for students to receive the help they need.

“ Without [SNAP] I would’ve had to make major changes, if not just drop out of college entirely,” a graduating college student in Oregon told National Public Radio on June 16, 2025.

Additionally, Guillory said, states trying to make their budgets work despite cuts to Medicaid funding may be forced to cut SNAP benefits funding further or opt out of the federal food program entirely.

That “could likely mean less appropriations for institutions of higher education,” Guillory said.

In California, these cuts to SNAP will leave the state and its counties responsible for covering $1.35 billion to $4 billion annually in state and local expenses to fill the loss of federal funds, according to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. The shift of costs places an additional strain on public services and social programs funding in state budgets, which could result in states choosing to cut some education funding, leaving colleges to face limited budgets and barriers to student access.

To prepare for these changes, community colleges in the state have begun mobilizing. In August, the Chancellor’s Office of California Community Colleges, the leadership and oversight body for California’s 110 community colleges, said in a memo that it expects campuses to ensure that their basic needs programs remain accessible to all students.

“The Chancellor’s Office is actively and regularly in conversations with our colleges and our state and federal partners. We recently recommended that colleges prepare to address questions from students and families about changes to financial aid, and adjustments to eligibility criteria for Medicare and SNAP. We’ve asked campuses to ensure basic needs programs remain accessible to those who need assistance,” said the office’s spokesperson.

A silver lining in the reconciliation bill and community colleges is the addition of the Workforce Pell grant, which allows students in short-term programs to be eligible for federal Pell grants. Since eligibility hinges on students enrolling in “high-skill, high-wage” or “in-demand industry sectors or occupations” programs leading to a postsecondary credential, the program’s establishment will help expand access to short-term job training for low-income students.

“We’ve been pushing universities to think about, ‘Alright, what additional support my students from low-income backgrounds need,’” said Corwin, of the University of Southern California.

“We are literally seeing all these things that we’ve worked on for decades being curtailed by the federal government and by this bill,” Corwin continued. “So I would say right now, the field is trying to figure out how to work within the constraints of the federal government, while still trying to provide students with the most robust and best support possible.”

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