President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package, known as the “big beautiful bill,” is reshaping how aspiring doctors finance their education. Starting this week, federal loans for professional programs such as medical, dental, and law school are capped at $50,000 per year, with a total limit of $200,000. The program Grad PLUS, which allowed students to borrow the full cost of attendance regardless of credit, has also been eliminated.
For many future physicians, this change means rethinking their career paths. Eddie Jiang, a recent graduate from Stony Brook University in New York, had planned to go straight to medical school after college. Now, he expects to work for over two years to afford the cost. “It’s very jarring to me that money has become this important in my decision to become a doctor,” Jiang said.
The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the median four-year cost of attendance for the class of 2026 was $297,745 for public schools and $408,150 for private schools. Nearly half of medical students rely on Grad PLUS, borrowing over $1 billion annually through the program. The new caps could exacerbate an existing physician shortage, with projections showing a deficit of 87,150 primary care physicians by 2037.
Students are turning to private loans, taking gap years, or abandoning medical dreams altogether. Faven Wondwosen, a Yale University student, shifted her focus to academia after realizing the financial burden. “It doesn’t matter how hard I work, there’s a big chance I can’t be a doctor,” she said. Critics argue that the policy may reduce accessibility and discourage students from pursuing lower-paying fields like primary care.
