Student loan policy sparks worries about medical school enrollment, physician shortage

Key takeaways:

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ eliminated Grad PLUS funding and added caps to student loans.

Experts say this will make medical school less accessible and could worsen workforce the shortages, prompting equity concerns.

Provisions in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act capping student loans will make it more difficult for medical students — especially those from underserved populations — to become physicians, which may affect an already-severe workforce shortage.

When the Big, Beautiful Bill passed , a little-discussed part of the sweeping legislation was its impacts on student loans, which will have an immediate impact on medical students, according to Sarah C. Nosal, MD, FAAFP, president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

The legislation eliminated Grad PLU