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As millions of student loan borrowers settle into the school year, many are stressed about how they'll pay for their degrees. These students may find that the , the big tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law over the summer, could limit how much they can borrow.

Until recently, graduate students could take out two types of federal loans: , which had a lifetime limit of US$138,500, and , which allowed students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance, minus financial aid.

But Grad PLUS loans will be next summer, with a for current borrowers. That will leave only the capped loans for new borrowers, and those loans have new lifetime borrowing limits: $200,000 for students pursuing certain , and $100,000 for nonprofessional graduate programs.

If you add both undergraduate and graduate loans, there's a new lifetime limit of $257,500 per person.

That seems modest to me. Consider that the for an undergraduate degree range from to . That means we're looking at up to $224,000 for a bachelor's degree. If we add three years of law school, we're looking at , respectively. Alternatively, completing will set you back another $268,000 to $363,000. It's not easy to make those numbers add up to less than $257,500.

As I reflect on these numbers and my journey to becoming , specializing in race and ethnic studies, one thing becomes clear: I would never have been able to earn my bachelor's degree, two master's degrees, and Ph.D. under these new rules.

Adjusting for inflation, I took out nearly $300,000 in student loans, and I paid them all off within a decade of starting my college teaching career. For me, the system worked. I wonder how today's aspiring professionals, especially those from less prosperous backgrounds, will manage.

The future of professionals

Professional students already graduate with a lot of debt—often far more than the new loan caps will allow. In 2020, more than a quarter of graduating medical students and nearly 60% of graduating dental students had , author Mark Kantrowitz, , has found. In 2024, left school with more than $300,000 in debt.

The new borrowing limits will likely hit minority students especially hard. While about , the share is for Black students compared with white students, 48% to 17%.

While some might be able to supplement their federal loans with private ones—which tend to have much worse terms for borrowers—I fear that many others will be forced to end their educations prematurely.

That, in turn, would worsen the . As pointed out in a , the shortage of Black primary care physicians is directly related to overall lower population health and ultimately higher mortality rates within the Black community. As of 2023, of U.S. doctors were Black, versus .

Research has suggested that student loan relief would . Adding new restrictions would likely have the opposite effect, making the profession more homogeneous and .

Or consider attorneys. Law school costs have risen over the past two decades. The average 2020 law school graduate .

Black law students face unique challenges, graduating with approximately 8% more debt on average than white students and facing once they enter the legal workforce. Making it harder for Black students to afford law school could reduce the , which has held steady at about 5% of active lawyers over the past 10 years.

Reducing access to federal student loans risks disproportionately affecting women, since they hold .

What comes next

Supporters of the change say that capping graduate student borrowing will . They also say will step in to help students. I am skeptical, but the true test will come next year.

In the meantime, professional students might want to familiarize themselves with the many scholarship opportunities available. Many organizations offer a range of , including those targeting and . The same is true for students interested in law school. A helpful starting point is and these and .

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