Scholars evaluate the impact of federal student loan policy.
One in six U.S. adults has federal student loan debt. The growing national balance now exceeds $1.8 trillion, with 10 percent of loans going unpaid at the end of 2025. The rate of student loan debt growth outpaces that of tuition costs. In response to rising balances, the Trump Administration announced several changes it plans to make to federal student loan policy as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. These changes include capping the amount that students can borrow and eliminating the Grad PLUS Program, which allows graduate and professional students to borrow up to the full of cost their programs.
The Trump Administration’s student loan overhaul, which is set to take…