Financial Aid for Dental Students: Implications of Recent Legislation.

In July 2025, Congress enacted major reforms to higher education funding by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), overhauling federal student loan programs, setting limits on federal borrowing, and abruptly ending the Graduate PLUS loan program. These changes may significantly impact access to dental education-especially for students from low-income or underserved backgrounds-and further worsen the ongoing shortage of oral health clinicians in rural and underserved areas, whose populations already face challenges to receiving adequate oral healthcare.