Provisions in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act ushered in a new federal loan policy that will restrict loan dollars based on a student’s enrollment level.
The new law establishes a schedule of reductions, or SOR, which requires schools to prorate loans based on enrollment intensity. Only full-time students will be eligible for a full federal loan, while part-time students and students with reduced course loads will receive a smaller loan proportional to the number of enrolled units.
Cruz Grimaldo, associate vice chancellor and director of the financial aid and scholarships office, said the new loan policy is expected to affect up to 1,000 students at UC Berkeley, primarily student-parents, DSP students and other students with accommodations for a reduced course load, meaning they take fewer than 12 or 13 units per semester depending on their respective college.
Even students with permission to take a reduced course load by UC Berkeley will have their loans adjusted in accordance with the law.
Grimaldo explained that a student’s loans will still be determined by their cost of attendance minus their student aid index. Then, if a student is enrolled in fewer than the 12-credit minimum to be considered a full-time student, their loans will be prorated based on a formula that scales loan offers with the number of units a student is enrolled in.
According to Grimaldo, the new SOR has put a strain on his office, which is now required to evaluate each student’s enrollment status on an individual basis at each enrollment benchmark: on the loan disbursement date August 17, the first day of instruction August 26, after the add/drop deadline on September 16 and potentially during the semester, as withdrawn or dropped classes can affect a student’s aid eligibility for the following semester.
Grimaldo said universities typically have around eight to nine months to implement federal changes, but the loan policy was not finalized until May 1, leaving the FASO team with little time to understand the law and implement it.
“We’ve seen this (federal) administration before do things like this … I think at its core, it fails to understand why some of our students are taking below 12 units,” said ASUC Senator Omar Espinoza. “It’s not like this is a choice … it’s an indication that you need more support.”
Grimaldo said the FASO has no “backfill option” to supplement students’ financial needs if their federal loans are reduced. While there are limited pools of emergency funds available — previously used to support students through the Palisades fires and threats to student visas — Grimaldo does not think campus will be able to close the gap for the nearly 1,000 students expected to need financial supplementation.
Trump’s new enrollment-based loan policy comes in a wave of new loan eligibility policies, such as new firm caps on Parent PLUS borrowing and restrictions on Graduate PLUS loans to new borrowers.
“I think there’s no better investment than our Berkeley students,” Grimaldo said. “So whenever the federal government withdraws resources, it puts a little bit more burden on the state and the institution to look for resources.”