I may be one of the last middle-class medical students who could afford to become a doctor

By Gauri GurumurthyJuly 24, 2026

Gurumurthy is a third-year medical student.

Every so often, I catch myself wondering, what if I had applied to medical school just two years later?

As another class of medical students matriculates, that question has become harder to ignore.

On July 1, changes made to federal student loan programs under the One Big Beautiful Bill went into effect. These changes cap how much graduate students can borrow and eliminate the current Graduate PLUS loan structure that has allowed many medical students to cover the full cost of attendance.