Leaders at the University of Colorado are expressing concerns and advocating against certain aspects of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill they say will negatively impact the university.

The chancellors of each campus and the president of the University of Colorado wrote letters to the state’s U.S. senators and representatives in Congress to express concerns about several aspects of the bill which they say will harm CU students and families.

“On behalf of the University of Colorado (CU), we write to express our concerns with several provisions contained in the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), which will harm our students and families,” the letter read. “We hope to partner with you in the coming weeks as the Senate considers its own approach, including substantive changes, to budget reconciliation legislation.”

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on May 22, and the bill will move to the Senate next for consideration.

The bill “reduces taxes, reduces or increases spending for various federal programs, increases the statutory debt limit, and otherwise addresses agencies and programs throughout the federal government,” according to the bill summary. Senate Republicans are now considering changes to the bill regarding topics like Medicaid and clean energy tax credits, according to NPR.

The bill, if passed as-is, would include about $350 billion in federal education program reductions. It would also increase the number of credit hours required to be considered full-time for Pell Grant eligibility from 12 to 15 credit hours per semester, while eliminating Pell Grants for students enrolled less than half-time.

The Pell Grant is a type of federal financial aid awarded to students from low-income households to help pay for college.

“We are concerned by provisions in H.R. 1 that will reduce federal aid to low and middle-income students in Colorado and impose onerous financial penalties on colleges and universities,” the letter read. “…The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates more than half of Pell recipients will receive smaller grants and 10 percent will lose their grants altogether because of these changes.”

There are more than 69,000 students in Colorado currently receiving Pell Grants, including more than 10,700 at CU.

The bill would end subsidized loans for undergraduate students, the Grad PLUS loan program and restricts Parent PLUS loans to a $50,000 aggregate limit per parent borrower.

There are more than 50,000 undergraduate recipients of federal subsidized loans in Colorado, including more than 11,000 at CU. More than 6,500 Colorado students rely on Grad PLUS loans to obtain advanced degrees, including nearly 2,300 at CU.

“Eliminating the in-school interest subsidy on these loans will cost each student an average of $1,250 in additional interest upon graduation,” the letter read. “That’s an extra $62.5 million in student debt for current Colorado undergraduates.”

The bill would also repeal income-contingent repayment plans, including the Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) and Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plans. It would instead establish two repayment options, which the letter said “will limit flexibility and increase the likelihood of default.”

The bill would limit graduate and professional student loan borrowing to $150,000 and limit the maximum amount a student can borrow over their lifetime to $200,000.

The $150,000 limit “would be particularly harmful to students who pursue professional degrees in law and medicine; and restricting medical and dental residencies from counting towards Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” the letter read. “We are concerned the latter will discourage our best-in-the-world doctors and dentists from pursuing careers in rural areas or at non-profit entities in Colorado.”

CU System spokesperson Michele Ames said CU is working hard to make sure that every student can find a path to their educational success that is affordable and limits debt.

“Unfortunately, some of the limits being contemplated don’t take into account the actual cost of many advanced degrees. Limiting graduate student borrowing to $120,000 (20,500 per year) for master’s degrees and $200,000 (50,000 per year) for professional degrees will create a gap between what a student can borrow from the government and the cost of attendance,” Ames wrote in an email. “This would push students into the private market to finance their education. While CU understands the need to limit student debt, a one-size-fits all approach simply doesn’t consider the real differences in educational cost for many degrees.”

The bill would also implement a risk-sharing model that would require colleges and universities to pay for student loan defaults. The risk-sharing model would require colleges and universities to pay an annual penalty to the U.S. Department of Education calculated based on a share of their students’ unpaid loans.

“Overall, the new risk-sharing program would decrease funding for students and institutions in Colorado, redirecting federal resources outside our state,” the letter read. “Colorado colleges and universities stand to lose nearly $63 million per year, including more than $8 million at CU were this program to be implemented, according to the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Colorado is already 41st in state support for higher education. Redistributing essential federal resources away from our public colleges and universities will make postsecondary education more costly to Colorado students and more difficult to retain our top talent in the state.”

For more information on federal updates affecting CU, visit cu.edu/office-government-relations/federal-relations/federal-transition-updates.