Dental students graduate with an average of $312,000 in student debt. For many new dentists, student debt impacts where they choose to practice and if they want to pursue a residency. ASDA supports initiatives to reduce the burden of dental student debt to give young dentists more autonomy over their career.
Submit Your Comments
The Department of Education (DOE) announced it will create two new advisory committees to implement the changes to student loans from the One Big Beautiful Bill. As part of this process, the DOE will accept written comments on the new rulemaking through Thursday, Aug. 28.
ASDA wants to ensure that ASDA members communicate the dental student perspective to the DOE. All ASDA members are encouraged to submit their own comments. The more comments that are submitted, the bigger the impact. Submit your comments.
Unsure how to submit comments? Follow this guide.
Recent Changes
In July 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law, which will result in several student loan changes for current and future dental students. Student loans are critical to providing opportunities for prospective students to attend dental school.
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans
- Beginning in July 2026, the lifetime cap for Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans will be increased to $200,000 from $138,500 for professional degree programs.
Grad PLUS Loans
- Current borrowers, including those borrowing for the 2025-26 school year, will still have access to Grad PLUS loans to borrow up to the cost of attendance for dental school.
- New borrowers for the 2026-27 year will only have access to Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans for federal loans.
Repayment Plans
Current borrowers must enroll in one of these repayment programs by July 2028:
- Standard repayment plan
- Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan
- Repayment Assistance Program (RAP), scheduled to launch in 2026.
New borrowers will only have access to the standard repayment program or RAP.
What is RAP?
- RAP replaces the ICR, SAVE, PAYE and (for new borrowers) IBR plans, which all calculate monthly payments based on income.
- RAP includes an interest subsidy that prevents principal amounts from increasing if payments are not high enough to cover interest. The subsidy is limited to $50 per month.
- RAP has a 30-year repayment term to qualify for student loan forgiveness.
If you have questions pertaining to the recent changes to student loans, please email
advocacydept@asdanet.org.
In the News
- On July 29, the Department of Education requested public comments for two new committees to implement changes to student loans from the One Big Beautiful Bill. Read more in the July Advocacy Brief.
- On July 4, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law, which included sweeping changes to federal student loans. The Supreme Court overruled the decision on July 14. Read more in the July Advocacy Brief.
- On May 22, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s executive order to close the Department of Education. Read more in the June 2025 Advocacy Brief.
- On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order to take steps to close the Department of Education. Read more in the April 2025 Advocacy Brief.
- Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Chair of the Center for the American Worker of the America First Policy Institute, was named Secretary of Education in the Trump administration. Read more in the November 2024 Advocacy Brief.