Changes to federal student loans leave aspiring medical students scrambling to cover costs

CHICAGO Twenty-year-old Eric Mun didn t want to believe it Only one kid in the family could make it to health school and it wasn t going to be him Mun had done everything right He graduated high school with honors earned a scholarship at Northwestern University and breezed through his biology courses He immigrated to Alabama from Korea as a toddler From the quiet stretches of the South he dreamed of helping patients in a pressed white coat But dreams don t pay tuition And with new borrowing limits Mun s family can only endorsement one child through school My parents already implied that my older brother is apparently going to be the one that gets to go Mun revealed President Donald Trump s sweeping big beautiful tax and spending bill signed into law earlier this month imposes strict new caps on federal participant loans capping borrowing for professional schools at per year The measure particularly affects curative students whose tuition often exceeds over four years Aspiring physicians like Mun have been thrown into financial uncertainty A large number of members of the anatomical group say the measures will send shock waves through a system already laden with economic hindrances discouraging low-income students from pursuing a health degree It might mean there are people who want to be doctors that can t be doctors because they can t afford it noted Dr Richard Anderson president of the Illinois State Health Society Before the passage of Trump s budget bill the Grad PLUS loan activity allowed graduate students to borrow their institution s total cost of attendance including living expenses The activity was slashed as part of a broader overhaul to the federal attendee loan system Now beginning July the bulk graduate students will be capped at in federal loans per year with a total limit of Students in professional schools like clinical dental or law school will face the annual cap and a total limit of Through the Chicago Cancer Healthcare Equity Collaborative Fellows initiative at Northwestern University undergrads and current graduates interested in physiological school take part in a demonstration of fundamental laparoscopic surgery and a tour at a Northwestern surgical bio skills simulation lab on July Antonio Perez Chicago Tribune Mun s parents work at an automobile assembly plant Throughout high school he knew he would have to rely on scholarships and federal loans to pay his way through college Mun s voice faltered I m just trying to remain hopeful Mun stated Also folded into the bill the elimination of several Biden-era repayment plans cuts to Pell Grants and limits to the Parent PLUS loans scheme which allows parents of dependent undergraduates to borrow Proponents of the Republican-backed bill explained the curbed borrowing will incentivize biological schools and other graduate programs to lower tuition The tuition of bulk Chicago-area healthcare schools is nearly for four years not including cost-of-living expenses Northwestern University s Feinberg School of Medicine has a price tag after accounting for those indirect costs according to the school s website Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science trails closely behind at nearly One of the main concerns about the Grad PLUS initiative is money that is going to subsidize institutions rather than extending access to students noted Lesley Turner an associate professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Residents Program Still multiple medicinal professionals expressed doubt that schools will adjust their costs in response to the bill Tuition for both private and general schools has been steadily climbing for decades up from after adjusting for inflation according to the Association of American Physiological Colleges There s specific evidence that Grad PLUS may have contributed to those tuition hikes A investigation co-authored by Turner in detected that prices increased cents per dollar after the activity s introduction in There was also little indication that Grad PLUS had fulfilled its intended goal of expanding access to underrepresented students Through the Chicago Cancer Wellness Equity Collaborative Fellows campaign at Northwestern University undergraduates and modern graduates who are interested in medicinal school walk for a tour at a Northwestern surgical bio skills simulation lab on July Antonio Perez Chicago Tribune But Turner cautioned against the abrupt reversal of the campaign After accounting for inflation the lifetime borrowing limits now placed on graduate students are lower than they were in she revealed Numerous students may turn to private loans to cover the gap often at higher interest rates More than half of health students relied on Grad PLUS loans according to AAMC The median coaching debt for indebted medicinal students is around with majority of repayment plans lasting to years The median stipend for doctors first year post-MD was just in I think for a multitude of reasons it would have been reasonable to put certain sort of limit on Grad PLUS loans but I think this is a very blunt way of doing it Turner announced In a high-rise on Northwestern s downtown campus last week undergraduate students and alums from local colleges gathered for the Chicago Cancer Vitality Equity Collaborative Fellows effort The eight-week summer intensive offers aspiring curative professionals a deep dive into cancer fitness disparities information and research Participants like Mun have been left reeling after the flurry of federal cuts Alexis Chappel a -year-old graduate of Northeastern Illinois University watched a family member struggle with addiction growing up She was deeply moved by the doctors who supported his recovery and it inspired her to pursue medicine But she has no idea how she ll cover tuition I feel like it s in God s hands at this point Chappel noted I just felt like it s a direct attack on Black and brown students who plan on going to clinical school Through the Chicago Cancer Strength Equity Collaborative Fellows plan at Northwestern University Alexis Chappel center takes part in a demonstration of fundamental laparoscopic surgery at a Northwestern surgical bio skills simulation lab on July Antonio Perez Chicago Tribune Just of therapeutic students are Black and are Latino according to AAMC enrollment facts Socioeconomic diversity is also limited A analysis unveiled that of students came from the wealthiest of U S households Dr Tricia Pendergrast who graduated from Feinberg in relied entirely on Grad PLUS loans to fund her physiological schooling Juggling classes and clinicals she had little money saved and no steady stream of income Pendergrast was so strapped for cash that she enrolled in SNAP benefits a effort also cut under Trump s budget bill Now an anesthesiologist at University of Michigan Healthcare she s documented her concerns on TikTok for her followers It s not going to improve representation and it s not going to improve access Pendergrast mentioned It s going to act as a deterrent for people who otherwise would be excellent physicians For low-income students the application process is already fraught with economic obstacles Pendergrast mentioned Metrics like GPA and the Clinical College Admissions Test or MCAT are heavily weighted in admissions and may disadvantage students from underresourced schools Plenty of students also lack mentorships or networks to guide them through the process she noted I think the average anatomical participant is going to be richer and whiter and not from rural areas and not from underserved communities Pendergrast disclosed Related Articles Baby boomers now live next to -year-olds at colleges across US For particular employees development benefits such as tuition assistance prove life-changing Development Department says it will release billions in remaining withheld grant money for schools Trump s settlement with Columbia could become a model for his campaign to reshape higher training With no access to development beyond the th grade girls in Afghanistan turn to religious schools The elimination of Grad PLUS loans comes amid a mounting nationwide physician shortage A newest AAMC document predicted a shortfall of physicians by Meanwhile a considerable portion of the workforce is poised to enter retirement The U S population aged and older is expected to grow over the next decade The shortage is particularly concentrated in primary care In practice that means longer waiting times for patients and an increased caseload on physicians who may already suffer from burnout If the goal is truly to make America healthy again then we need to have a strong physician workforce We should be coming up with ideas to make it more accessible for people who want to be doctors as opposed to hindering that Anderson commented Sophia Tully co-president of the Minority Association of Pre-Med Students at Northwestern declared she and her peers have struggled to reconcile with a system that often feels stacked against them The -year-old plans on taking an extra gap year before health school in an effort to save money Tully summed up the context on campus For lack of a better word people are panicking