Last July, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included several proposed changes to federal student aid. These changes will take effect July 1, 2026.

Two months before the bill is supposed to take effect, Central Michigan University Director of Scholarships and Financial Aid, Sarah Kasabian-Larson, said the Department of Education has still not made a final decision and has stated projections for changes to financial aid are subject to change.

"Since October, the Department of Education has gone through their steps of creating regulations," Kasabian-Larson said. "So far, they've done the negotiated rulemaking and put out the proposed rules; some of them have ended their comment period, but none of the regulations have any final rules yet.

"As finanical aid administrators, people that have to put into place these regulations, it's quite stressful to not have the final rules yet because ... we're two months away from July 1."

On April 20, the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid sent an email to students stating that some of the changes within the legislation include:

Federal Parent PLUS program cap
Elimination of hte Federal Grad PLUS loan
Federal student direct loans limit change

"It's a big change for us as staff, as an institution, but also for students," Kasabian-Larson said.

Federal Parent PLUS Program

Currently, parents of dependent undergraduate students are eligible to take over loans to help pay their child's school without a limit.

By July 1, new borrowers of this loan will have a $65,000 lifetime limit and a $20,000 limit per academic year for each student they take out this loan for, according to the CMU website.

Federal Student Direct Loans

Students who only enroll half-time will receive an annual limit of federal direct loans based on the cost of student aid. Kasabian-Larson said these loans will be prorated, or reduced, based on how many credits a student is taking. Before, students had the ability to borrow the full amount of the loan they qualified for.

"They (Congress) want to make sure students aren't over-borrowing beyond what they would need," she said. "So if a student is part-time staying in their program a little bit longer, it actually extends their ability to use federal loans longer because they're not borrowing up to that max annual limit each semester each year."

Kasabian-Larson said since October, the Department of Education has created and proposed regulations, and is now opening up comments on the proposed rules. Despite working with university officials to understand what these regulations will look like, she said she has been frustrated throughout the process.

"The Department of Ed has been honestly not very straightforward in the regulations," she said. "It's very frustrating to have such inconsistency behind the information they're giving us because we're supposed to take that and put it into practice and notify our students and our campus so everyone's prepared for these changes that are coming."

On April 21, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) said the Department of Education is providing contradictory information on whether Federal Grad PLUS loans will count toward the lifetime borrowing limit that was established by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The department stated the loan would not count, but has revised its statement stating that hte loan would count.

"The Department of Education's latest reversal to include Graduate PLUS loans under the new $257,500 lifetime borrowing limit only adds to an already confusing and rapidly shifting policy landscape," NASFAA said in a written statement.

Kasabian-Larson said the Department of Education is telling university officials that a final decision will not be announced until late spring. On a typical year, any changes or negotiations are made by the beginning of November, she said.

"You have to have the final rules, like the negotiated rulemaking, proposed rules, like the whole process done by Nov. 1 with an effective date of July 1 of the next year," she said. "That's not happening this year because obviously we're here in April and don't have the final rules. Having that shortened timeline is not fair. It's not helpful."

While waiting for a final decision, Kasabian-Larson said the Office of Scholarhips and Financial Aid will continue updating students and staff on any changes through email and its website. The department is also preparing for how to deal with these changes.

Kasabian-Larson said that the changes to financial aid will not change scholarship or aid opportunities provided by the school.

"As much as we want (these changes) not to happen, it's coming," she said. "So we're going to work really hard to help our students through the transition so they understand what's coming."