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Trump Admin To Stop Universities From Charging ‘Unlimited Tuition’ At Taxpayer Expense
The Federalist ^ | April 30, 2026 | Breccan F. Thies

Posted on 05/02/2026 5:50:40 AM PDT by Twotone

The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday that it has finalized rules to to help stop colleges and universities from charging exorbitant amounts in tuition, paid for by taxpayers.

“For 20 years, colleges and universities have been able to charge virtually unlimited tuition for their programs, despite the fact that many graduates see very little or no return on investment, the results of this decades long policy on American graduates are staggering,” Nicholas Kent, Under Secretary of Education, said on a press call Thursday. “American families live within their means, and it’s time for colleges and universities to do the same.”

snip

The final rule, set to take effect July 1, has four primary provisions, including borrowing caps for graduate and professional students. The department is eliminating the Grad PLUS program, which allowed graduate and professional students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance.

Graduate students will be limited to an annual cap of $20,500, with a lifetime cap of $100,000, while professional students will have an annual cap of $50,000 and a lifetime cap of $200,000.

The rules also alter the definition of “professional” degrees to pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology, and clinical psychology.

Some programs, like postgraduate nursing, are no longer eligible.

(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: education; tuition

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1 posted on 05/02/2026 5:50:40 AM PDT by Twotone
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To: Twotone

But..but...my dream school


2 posted on 05/02/2026 5:55:11 AM PDT by AppyPappy (They don't call you a Nazi because they think you are one. They do it to justify violence. )
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To: Twotone
Some programs, like postgraduate nursing, are no longer eligible.

That's a more reliable job than most of the rest on the list.

3 posted on 05/02/2026 5:56:47 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

I worked with MA’s in nursing. None of them actually ‘nurse’. The only reason to get an MA in nursing is so you don’t have to nurse. They teach instead.


4 posted on 05/02/2026 6:10:16 AM PDT by sheana
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To: Twotone

I’m generally opposed to price fixing on general principle, but since lefties love it, let’s start in their playpens. College tuition? I remember writing a $350 check for a full semester’s tuition at a major, well regarded state university. That would be a good baseline; I’d allow for an inflation adjustment, but no more. Tell the colleges to cut administrators and amenities, grievance studies, basket weaving and issues studies, etc. until they get there.

Then we can do the same for public sector pay and pensions.

And welfare benefits.

At a minimum, take the public sector off COLAs.


5 posted on 05/02/2026 6:11:46 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: Carry_Okie

Many postgraduate nursing programs are offered by university hospitals where nurses employed by the hospital can obtain their post-graduate degree subsidized by the hospital they are employed at. NYU is one such institution.
Great career prospects and tuition as a work benefit avoids debt. There are work tenure requirements before tuition forgiveness and a time of service requirement after the program is completed.


6 posted on 05/02/2026 6:12:16 AM PDT by JayGalt (A never ending battle for Truth, Justice & the American Way.)
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To: sheana
I worked with MA’s in nursing. None of them actually ‘nurse’.

This is simply wrong. Ever heard of an NP? They replace doctors for a great many functions.

The only reason to get an MA in nursing is so you don’t have to nurse. They teach instead.

My wife was a Clinical Nurse Specialist in a NICU. Yes, she taught, particularly in maintaining complex skill sets used infrequently. She also researched and introduced new processes, equipment, and devices, particularly in preserving brain function and reducing IV infections. The payoff to the public has been immense in reduced subsequent costs of public assistance in therapies for damaged children, representing lifelong benefits in the way of productive people.

7 posted on 05/02/2026 6:24:13 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Twotone

“professional students will have an annual cap of $50,000 and a lifetime cap of $200,000.”

How will the professional students get by on that paltry amount!!


8 posted on 05/02/2026 6:58:31 AM PDT by subterfuge
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To: Twotone
A much simpler and far more effective rule would be to look at the ratio of administrative staff (and their salaries) compared to faculty in 1995 and force any higher ed unit receiving financial aid to reduce its ratios to what they were then.

Just like in American corporations, the managerial class has become little more than a tribe of looters.

9 posted on 05/02/2026 7:05:55 AM PDT by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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To: Twotone

I’d simply require the schools to be the loan guarantors.


10 posted on 05/02/2026 7:38:12 AM PDT by jdege
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To: Twotone

As the quality of education has failed it’s gotten more and more expensive. There’s a lesson to be learned and a question: where’s the money going?


11 posted on 05/02/2026 7:52:17 AM PDT by Spok (You know people are out of ideas when all they can do is verbally attack people they disagree with.)
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To: Carry_Okie

“Some programs, like postgraduate nursing, are no longer eligible.”

‘That’s a more reliable job than most of the rest on the list.‘

Trump knows nursing education is toward reliable job.

He also knows post grad nursing education is dumb. And it is


12 posted on 05/02/2026 8:01:03 AM PDT by stanne
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To: Carry_Okie

“Some programs, like postgraduate nursing, are no longer eligible.”

‘That’s a more reliable job than most of the rest on the list.‘

“Trump knows nursing education is toward reliable job.

He also knows post grad nursing education is dumb. And it is”

I take it back. Nurse Practitioner education is very beneficial and in those cases affordability of tuition is non dependent on the government


13 posted on 05/02/2026 8:04:39 AM PDT by stanne
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To: stanne
I take it back. Nurse Practitioner education is very beneficial and in those cases affordability of tuition is non dependent on the government

See post 7.

14 posted on 05/02/2026 8:16:10 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

Post 7

Yes I was quite mistaken


15 posted on 05/02/2026 8:20:14 AM PDT by stanne
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To: stanne
Just FYI, and not to rub it in: NICU nurses are special. There are LOT of RNs out there who won't touch it. The kids are so fragile and the variations on the type of case are enormous that the slightest slip could mean death. Some of these babies require more than nurse at a time, fully dedicated to one child 24-7. People talking about 22 weeks as viable have no idea what is involved. The lungs just don't work at that gestational age. That such kids eventually make it is borderline miraculous. The cost is enormous. The damages are usually lifelong.

My wife got her first nursing related job at the age of 16. She has just retired after 54 years of caring for babies. In retirement she's taken a part time job getting developmentally damaged babies the therapies they need. It works, but it ain't cheap, as a good many of them were damaged by parental drug abuse. Simple morality in bearing children would save us an awful lot of money. Look there.

16 posted on 05/02/2026 8:40:47 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Twotone
I never understood how the FEDGOV never uttered a peep over the past 50 years as college tuition kept going up three or more times the rate of inflation.

Now it was and is pretty obviously an op to:

Bankrupt middle class families.

A great giveaway in virtually free tuition to POC who of course all graduate as politically active communists heading for NGO or FEDGOV jobs.

Indoctrinate one and all in the whole spectrum: from the evils of Apartheid in my college years to the evil of billionaires, Christians, and ICE in the present day.

Deplete the trades so absolutely that mass immigration of laborers almost starts to look reasonable.

Empowering Ivys and other, wannabe Ivys like UM or UC to become autonomous foci and Temples of communism.

Generate slow, long-term inflation of the currency to debase our economic system over a demi-century timescale.

IT ACCOMPLISHED all of these things.

Heckuvan op, in my mind.

17 posted on 05/02/2026 8:57:53 AM PDT by caddie (Going forward we all need to become Trump, and also Captain Obvious, and Charlie Kirk too. )
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To: Twotone

I went to college in the early to mid 90s. Tuition was about $1000 per semester. Now it’s about $7000 at the same school. And that’s just tuition. It cost us about $11,000 per semester to send our daughter to college.


18 posted on 05/02/2026 9:28:34 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (No Jesus. No Peace.... Know Jesus. Know peace.)
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To: Carry_Okie

“NICU nurses are special”

They really are. I have known a few in my hospital jobs


19 posted on 05/02/2026 9:43:47 AM PDT by stanne
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To: stanne
Anybody who can get a good IV stick or catheter placement reliably in a kid that small has serious skills.

My wife tells me that it takes at least two years to make an NICU nurse from a new grad or transfer.

20 posted on 05/02/2026 11:19:15 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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