By Tiffany Williams –
HARTFORD, Conn. — Governor Ned Lamont announced Thursday that he has submitted legislation to the Connecticut General Assembly to establish the Connecticut Supplemental Graduate Student Loan Program, a state-funded initiative designed to help students access low-interest loans for graduate programs in response to recent federal changes that restrict borrowing.
Lamont said the program is intended to protect students pursuing graduate degrees in fields such as nursing, social work, and physical therapy, which are particularly affected by the federal overhaul. “For decades, lower and middle-income students have depended on these low-interest loans to seek careers in good-paying professions, and now these recent federal changes are going to make graduate programs out of reach for many students who dream of pursuing a graduate degree,” Lamont said. “I’m particularly concerned that these new federal changes are going to make it even harder for students to seek graduate degrees in areas such as nursing, social work, and physical therapy, when we actually should be doing more to encourage people to enter these fields. Creating this loan program at the state-level is a way that we can help ensure that the opportunity for people to seek graduate degrees is still obtainable and not only for those whose families have the means.”
The federal changes, enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump in July, impose caps on federal student loan borrowing for graduate programs. Graduate students will be limited to $20,500 annually and $100,000 total, while professional degree students may borrow up to $50,000 annually or $200,000 total. The Department of Education has classified programs such as pharmacy, dentistry, law, and medicine as “professional,” while programs in nursing, social work, and physical therapy are defined as “graduate,” leaving them subject to lower borrowing limits. The act also eliminates Graduate PLUS loans for new borrowers, which had previously covered full costs for graduate and professional programs.
Lamont’s proposal directs $10 million in bonding to launch the state program, which would be administered through the Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority (CHESLA), the entity that already manages cost-effective student financing programs in the state. The measure is included in Senate Bill 85, which is under consideration by the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, with a public hearing expected in the coming weeks.
The program is intended to ensure that Connecticut students can continue to access graduate education in fields critical to public health and social services, even as federal support diminishes. Officials emphasized that the initiative is aimed at maintaining affordability and opportunity for lower- and middle-income students who might otherwise be priced out of these programs.