Congress’ reconciliation package, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed the Senate on July 1 with three Republicans voting against the bill and Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote to send the bill to the House. The House subsequently passed the bill on July 3rd, and it was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4th.
The most significant impacts to UW–Madison include the provision to defund SNAP-Ed and changes to federal student financial aid.
SNAP-Ed: Unfortunately, the final text retained a modified provision that defunds SNAP-Ed beginning October 1, 2025. UW–Madison’s Division of Extension runs FoodWIse, a SNAP-Ed funded program which employs more than 100 individuals who implement important nutrition education programming across Wisconsin. FoodWIse supports direct education for over 35,000 participants annually, as well as broader community initiatives that reach more than 98,000 people across the state. Wisconsin receives approximately $12 million in funding, with UW–Madison’s Extension receiving over $8 million annually. This loss of funding will have significant impacts on Extension’s FoodWIse program and its ability to serve Wisconsin communities.
Financial Aid: Changes to student financial aid that are most significant to UW–Madison include the elimination of Grad PLUS loans and limits/caps on Parent PLUS loans.
- Student Aid Index Change
- Reinstates family farm and small business asset exemptions in Student Aid Index (SAI) calculation.
- Pell Grant Changes
- Limits Pell Grants so that Cost of Attendance (COA) cannot be exceeded, which impacts students receiving scholarships and other financial aid that covers COA.
- Prevents receipt of Pell Grants if the student’s Federal SAI from their FAFSA is more than double the maximum Pell amount for the year.
- Foreign income is included in income calculations for Pell Grant eligibility.
- Loan Changes
- Eliminates Grad PLUS Loans effective July 1, 2026, but current borrowers can complete their program with “grandfathered” Grad PLUS Loans.
- In the 2023-24 year, approximately 900 UW–Madison students borrowed approximately $18 million.
- With Grad PLUS eliminated, students will turn to the private loan market as a replacement. A portion of these borrowers will not be eligible for private loans unless they can show they are creditworthy.
- Unsubsidized student loan limits remain at $20,500 annually for graduate students but have increased to $50,000 for professional students.Lifetime aggregate limits for graduate students were adjusted to $100,000 and $200,000 for professional students.
- Subsidized loans for undergraduate students who are enrolled less than full-time will require proration.
- Parent PLUS Loan limits are now $20,000 annually and $65,000 in aggregate per student.
- In 2023-24, 750 UW–Madison parents borrowed more than $20,000. The median amount borrowed was $34,145; the average amount was $37,564. A total of 58 parents would have been limited in their borrowing capacity by the new aggregate limit.
- Eliminates Grad PLUS Loans effective July 1, 2026, but current borrowers can complete their program with “grandfathered” Grad PLUS Loans.
- Accountability Measures for academic programs to be eligible for Direct Loans
- Undergraduate students: Median earnings of students who graduated must be greater than median earnings of those without a degree.
- Graduate students: Median earnings of students must be greater than persons with only a bachelor’s degree.
- Measures are taken four years after students’ graduate.
- Programs failing the measure in one year must provide disclosures to students prior to enrollment.
- Programs failing 2 out of 3 years are no longer able to provide direct loans to students.
- Loan Repayment Changes
- Changes to loan repayment plans and elimination of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan. Borrowers, for loans made after July 1, 2026, will now have only two repayment options which include the Standard Repayment Plan, fixed monthly payments over 10-25 years or the Repayment Assistance Plan, monthly payments between 1 and 10 % of a borrower’s discretionary income.
- Existing borrowers will have until July 1, 2028, to enroll in either of the two new plans.
Agriculture and Farm Bill Provisions: The final text passed retained the $125 billion over 10 years beginning in FY 2026 for agricultural research infrastructure through the Research Facilities Act. Additionally, the bill includes funding for several programs generally funded through the Farm Bill, including, $37 million for the Foundation of Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), $80 million in FY2025 and $175 million in FY26 for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, and $2 million annually through FY 2031 for the Urban, Indoor, and Other Emerging Agriculture Production, Research, Education, and Extension Initiative.
Other funding: Other relevant funding provided for in this package includes:
- Animal Health: The bill also provides $233 million in funding for Animal Disease Prevention and Management, including $10 million annually for the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), $70 million annually for the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program, and $153 million annually for the National Animal Vaccine Bank.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): The bill provides $150 million for the Department of Energy to create transformational AI models, termed “American science cloud” which would be a system of government, private sector, and academic programs to use cloud computing technologies to support research.
- Defense: The bill provides $150 billion to the Department of Defense, which includes funding for shipbuilding, hypersonics, critical minerals, autonomous systems, and quantum.
With the passage of this legislation, implementation will now commence, and Congress will shift its focus to Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations. Please check this site in the coming weeks and months for further updates.