WASHINGTON – Emi Glass had one thing on her mind when she was applying to college: cost.
Footing the bill for a degree was never a foregone conclusion for her, growing up in a single-parent household in Kettering, Ohio. In between shifts at the local Dairy Queen, she poured hundreds of hours into applications for a wide range of schools and scholarships. She worried about where she would go, and more importantly, if she’d be able to pay for it.
Those worries vanished when she was accepted to Yale University. The Ivy League school in Connecticut offers some of the most generous financial aid in the country to lower-income students. Between federal grants, outside scholarships and financial aid directly from Yale, going to college suddenly seemed affordable.
“I’m living out a dream that once felt unattainable for me,” said Glass, now 21, standing outside the U.S. Capitol on June 12.
She came to Washington with a group of other college students, many from similar financial circumstances, to bring attention to the financial aid implications of President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” for low-income students.
“For students like me, financial aid isn’t just helpful,” said another student, Jackson Howe, 21, a rising senior at West Virginia University. “It’s essential.”
The students were in the nation’s capital to lobby congressional Republicans to oppose new taxes on university endowments and changes to federal student loan programs.
As part of the GOP’s efforts to get Trump’s major domestic policy bill across the finish line this summer, lawmakers are considering a slew of reforms to funding for higher education.
One aggressive legislative package, which already passed the U.S. House of Representatives, would significantly curb eligibility for Pell Grants (federal subsidies that help low-income people pay for college) and fine schools for leaving students with debt.
Read more about the House bill: Republicans propose massive overhaul of student loans, Pell Grants
The other package, which was published by a U.S. Senate committee on June 10, takes a more measured approach. Still, it would make big changes, including cutting the number of student debt repayment plans to just two (which the House bill also suggests) and imposing new caps on borrowing.
Read more about the Senate bill: Major student loan changes just came one step closer to becoming law
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chair of the Senate committee overseeing education, said his chamber’s bill would save taxpayers at least $300 billion and make higher education more affordable.
“We need to fix our broken higher education system,” he said in a statement. “While Biden and Democrats unfairly attempted to shift student debt onto taxpayers that chose not to go to college, Republicans are taking on the root causes of the student debt crisis to lower the cost of tuition and improve Americans’ access to opportunities that set them up for success.”
The Senate package includes several provisions with bipartisan support. One measure, which would yank financial aid funding from certain college programs that provide a poor return on investment, has been pushed for years by a former high-ranking official in the Obama administration.
Some Democrats also agree with a provision that would expand Pell Grants to weekslong training programs in fields like welding and cosmetology, even though consumer protection advocates warn that doing so without the right guardrails could lead to fraud.
Endowment taxlooms
Among the chief concerns for the students rallying outside the Capitol on June 12 were new taxes on university endowments.
Those penalties, which would primarily hurt some of the richest schools in the country, could force institutions like Yale to pay upwards of $700 million a year to the government.
Read more: With a war on Harvard raging, religious colleges get big tax break in Trump spending bill
Republicans such as Missouri Rep. Jason Smith, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, say the provision would hold “woke, elite universities that operate more like major corporations and other tax-exempt entities accountable, ensuring they can no longer abuse generous benefits provided through the tax code.”
Cayla Waddington, 18, a rising sophomore at Yale, worries the tax could force schools like hers to pull back on their financial aid commitments, which can be supported in part by endowment funds.
“I pay next to nothing for my Yale education, thanks to their endowment,” she said. “There are thousands of us across the country who share the same story.”
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The GOP megabill is worrying these college students. Here’s why.
