There are some people who would argue that this is a good thing.
From the ABA Journal:
University Of Washington Dean: Student Loan Changes In Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill May Cause 50% Of Law Schools To CloseThe One Big Beautiful Bill’s mandate to kill Grad PLUS Loans and impose strict limits on student borrowing has law school administrators scrambling to sort through the law’s restrictions as they dig into data, shift messaging, reconsider scholarship funding and determine how new outcome rules will impact their schools.“The message that we’re trying to get out to schools is ‘Don’t panic,’” says Gisele Joachim, Law School Admission Council vice president for law school engagement. “We just don’t even know everything yet.”But what is known is that starting July 1, 2026, the bill kills Grad PLUS loans and caps unsubsidized federal loans to law students at $50,000 a year and $200,000 for graduate education over a lifetime.“You can see where that wouldn’t be enough,” Joachim says, “either because the tuition on its own is above that, as it certainly is in most cases, or the cost of attendance is more than the $50,000.”According to the 509 data provided by law schools to the American Bar Association, only 13 law schools have a total cost of attendance of less than $50,000 per year, says Stephen Brown, assistant dean of enrollment at Fordham University School of Law. “They should be advertising themselves to students as great options with costs less than the new federal direct loan cap,” he adds. …Small private law schools could be hit especially hard, administrators contacted by the ABA Journal say, impacting how they are run—and, possibly, if they survive.“This could shut down many law schools,” says University of Washington School of Law Dean Tamara Lawson. “We’re under 200 law schools now. Maybe we become 100 law schools.” …While law schools have many levers they can adjust regarding students’ ultimate costs, lowering tuition prices isn’t an option at every law school, Lawson says. “ …Adjustments in how scholarships are awarded and funded could change to help students offset a school’s sticker price, administrators say.Based on the 509 data studied by LSAC, “There is significant offset from scholarships for many students, and at some schools, it’s the vast majority,” Joachim says. “I don’t know if the schools will have the ability or financial wherewithal to put more money in those pots. But again, there could be a shifting of sorts of priorities of who that money goes to.”
Hat tip to the TaxProfBlog.
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