Signed on July 4, the wide-ranging law enacts sweeping changes to federal programs — from student loans to Medicaid — in what Sousa describes as a step backward for accessibility in higher education.

At MSU, the impacts reach across the institution. The College of Human Medicine is bracing for new financial barriers in medical education and cuts to healthcare funding. Undergraduate and graduate students across campus face the loss of key financial aid. And for some MSU Extension educators, the elimination of SNAP-Ed could mean the end of their jobs.

CHM confronts funding cuts and threats to rural healthcare

For the College of Human Medicine, the BBB brings immediate concern on two fronts: how future medical students will pay for school and how healthcare in underserved areas will continue.

“We are a medical school that prides itself on providing opportunity to the people of Michigan,” Sousa said. “And the changes and cuts in federal loan programs will change the way about half the people who go to our college in the future pay for medical school and how they repay their loans.”

The bill eliminates Graduate PLUS loans, a federal program widely used by graduate and professional students. At CHM, about half of students rely on these loans to pay for medical school. Current borrowers are protected under a legacy clause, but future students won’t have access.

“That means that a whole group of our future students will have to find a way to finance their medical school,” Sousa said.

Many of those future physicians come from modest means. Around 40 to 50 percent of CHM students are from disadvantaged or lower-income backgrounds, Sousa said.

 “Our students don’t come from wealthy backgrounds, and it’s harder for them to get a private loan co-signed,” he explained. “So financing their medical school will be more difficult when you don’t have federal loans.” 

Most graduates go on to low-paid residency positions, earning about $50,000 to $60,000 a year. “And if you have a quarter million dollars in debt, it’s difficult to make the repayment,” Sousa said.

Some CHM students, especially out-of-state residents or those with families, accrue more than $300,000 in loans by graduation. Sousa fears the loss of Grad PLUS will force qualified students to abandon medical careers.

“We will go back to an era when it’s much more difficult for people of middle class background to become physicians like it used to be,” he said. 

Beyond student loans, the BBB threatens a critical funding stream that supports both CHM’s budget and healthcare across Michigan. Like other medical schools in the state, CHM participates in an intergovernmental Medicaid transfer program, where universities contribute funds that are then matched by the federal government to support Medicaid services.

“These intergovernmental transfer programs are worth about $600 million in paying physicians and hospitals for the care of Medicaid patients across the state,” Sousa said.

The program boosts payments to physicians and hospitals that serve low-income and rural communities, helping keep care accessible. A portion of the matched funds also supports CHM directly, making up about 13 percent of the college’s annual budget.

But under the BBB, tighter Medicaid spending could delay or reduce these transfers, putting both CHM funding and access to care at risk. Sousa warned that rural hospitals and clinics will face serious financial strain without that support. “It’s going to be very, very difficult for those places to stay afloat,” he said.

Patients will still need care, but more will likely end up in emergency rooms or go without treatment. Hospitals will absorb the cost as charity care, which Sousa said is unsustainable over time.

“If you’re a hospital… in a rural or underserved community, you might have to close because you don’t have enough funding to stay open,” he said. “So many hospitals in rural communities have closed and will presumably close as a result of this legislation.”

In short, the BBB’s Medicaid cuts could reduce access to care in the very communities CHM’s students are trained to serve.

Graduate PLUS, Parent PLUS cuts could restructure college financing

The Big Beautiful Bill brings major changes to federal aid programs that thousands of MSU students depend on, specifically Graduate PLUS and Parent PLUS loans.

“That’s a big deal,” Keith Williams, executive director of MSU’s office of financial aid, said. “We were definitely not excited about the elimination of the Graduate PLUS.”

According to Williams, during the 2024–25 academic year, 2,287 MSU graduate and professional students, including more than half of all medical students, borrowed nearly $65 million through the Grad PLUS program.

Beginning July 1, 2026, the program will sunset for new borrowers, leaving them to find other ways to finance their education.

Grad PLUS users are partially protected by a legacy clause that allows them to keep borrowing for up to three years or until they finish their degree. Even so, MSU officials are concerned.

“It really takes a tool out of our proverbial toolbox when we’re looking at helping students reduce the cost of education,” Marshall Rumsey, senior associate director of financial aid, said. 

For incoming graduate students, the loss of this federal safety net will force them to seek alternative options to cover expenses, typically private loans with stricter credit requirements. Unlike federal loans, private lenders assess income, credit score and debt-to-income ratio, which not all students, or their co-signers, can meet. 

“It’s very possible that some students who would otherwise qualify for a Graduate PLUS loan may apply for a private loan and not be eligible for it,” Williams said. 

Undergraduate families face a new challenge as well. The BBB places a firm cap on Parent PLUS loans, which are federal loans parents can use to help pay for their child’s college costs.

The bill limits Parent PLUS borrowing to $20,000 per student per year, with a $65,000 lifetime maximum. Previously, parents could borrow up to the full cost of attendance, minus other aid. In many cases, that meant borrowing more than $20,000 a year if needed.

For example, an out-of-state MSU student with a yearly cost over $60,000 might have had their parents borrow $40,000 or more in PLUS loans each year. Now, that family is limited to $20,000, potentially leaving a large gap.

“That amount is capped… at $20,000 per year, so that family might have to also consider… private loans to help finance the rest of their education,” Williams said. 

Over a four-year degree, the $65,000 cap doesn’t cover the full cost many students face.

“The basic math doesn’t add up … $20,000 a year for four years is $80,000, not $65,000,” Williams said. “So year four could be a challenge.”

University officials are now strategizing how to support students through these gaps.

“MSU is having numerous discussions about the elimination of the Graduate PLUS loan program, and what that means for our current and future students,” Williams said. 

He emphasized that the priority is ensuring the loss of federal loan access doesn’t force anyone to drop out.

“We’re gonna do our best to make sure that MSU remains accessible and affordable for all students,” he said. 

For now, the financial aid office plans to ramp up counseling on private loan options and budgeting.

“We’ll make sure all of our current and prospective students have links on our website to the terms and conditions of different lenders,” Williams said. 

MSU extension programs in jeopardy

One of the most immediate impacts of the BBB is playing out in communities across Michigan, where MSU Extension educators — university-affiliated staff who deliver outreach programs in health, nutrition, and agriculture — worry about the fate of their jobs.

The new law eliminated federal funding for SNAP-Ed, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education initiative that helps low-income Americans learn about healthy eating. For Michigan, that means a potential end to nutrition classes and coaching that MSU Extension provides in every county. It means jobs like Tiffany Steven’s may vanish in a matter of weeks.

Stevens, an MSU Extension instructor in Macomb County, has spent 20 years teaching families and children about nutrition and healthy cooking through the Expanded Food and Nutrition  Education Program, or EFNEP.

For Stevens, it hasn’t just been her livelihood for the past two decades.

“Fun fact about me, I was a participant in the program before I got hired as an instructor,” she said. “So this program means a lot to me. It inspired me so much that I wanted to do the work, and I’ve been doing the work for 20 years now.” 

As an EFNEP nutrition instructor, Stevens visits schools, churches, shelters and community centers, reaching low-income parents and youth with lessons on grocery budgeting, cooking and exercise.

“I just love connecting with the community,” she said. “I love seeing people get that ‘aha’ moment when they understand, like, wow, I can eat differently and change my life.”

Her classes often focus on showing families how to stretch limited food budgets in healthy ways.

“Usually, when people have more money, they have more resources, they can hire a nutritionist or a chef, or pay for a gym,” Tiffany said. “The people we serve would not have the money to pay for this kind of support. So when they cut these programs, it’s impacting people, and they don’t have these resources any other way.”

Now, because of the BBB, Stevens’ program is at risk of being cut. Though EFNEP is funded by a separate federal grant, it operates in parallel with SNAP-Ed, and the two workforces are closely connected.

Stevens and her EFNEP colleagues have been anxiously waiting for word from MSU about whether their positions will survive.

EFNEP instructors like Stevens are supported by a separate USDA grant that, so far, appears to still be active. But without SNAP-Ed funding, that support may not be enough to maintain current services.

“No email has gone out to [EFNEP staff] saying your jobs are safe,” she said referring to MSU. “We assume, because we’re not SNAP, we’re not affected, but until we get something in writing, I feel like it’s still up in the air.”

Meanwhile, with SNAP-Ed funding gone, 120 to 150 MSU Extension employees across the state will lose their jobs, according to Victor Rodríguez-Pereira, president of MSU’s Union of Non-Tenure Track Faculty.

Rodríguez-Pereira has been closely tracking the fallout from the BBB and working to ensure state leaders understand the stakes. Representing many Extension educators, he emphasized the essential role these staff members play.

“These are very, very important people around the state of Michigan,” he said. “Often, there’s really no other access to this kind of education other than the programs that these folks run.”

He warned that the funding cuts will have swift consequences. He fears that once the funds run out, possibly as soon as August or September, more people will lose their jobs.

“Unless something miraculous happens, we’re talking about people who are going to be left out of a job,” he said.

For the communities Extension serves, the loss may not be obvious on day one, but over time it could be devastating.

“We might see a generation of kids that are going to grow up without much access to information about nutrition and how to live healthier lives,” Rodríguez-Pereira said.

Adults will also lose support for healthy living, especially in places with few other resources. In many rural communities, “SNAP-Ed programs are the only educational tool people have to learn about nutrition and better health,” he said.

And the impact won’t stop at Michigan’s borders. Many other universities and organizations across the country also run SNAP-Ed programs.

“This is going to be huge … thousands of people around the country," Rodríguez-Pereira said. "It’s going to be a national crisis."

As Michigan State grapples with the far-reaching consequences of the Big Beautiful Bill, students, faculty and community educators face growing uncertainty. Whether in lecture halls, hospitals or rural classrooms, the impacts of this legislation are already reshaping the future of accessibility and public service across the state.