As national Republican leaders scrutinize the value of college degrees, the Trump administration is ramping up investments in job training — a move Texas education advocates say mirrors state efforts in recent years to prioritize workforce needs over traditional higher education.

President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” expands Pell Grants — which help millions of low-income students pay for college — to include workforce training programs. The legislation signed into law last month also slashes the amount of money students and parents can borrow from the federal government to pay for higher education.

That means medical school or law school may soon be out of reach for more Texas students, education leaders say, while others could enter the workforce faster. Republican leaders argue the legislation will increase the accountability of colleges, rein in student debt and drive down the climbing costs of higher education.

Texas lawmakers have also focused on expanding workforce readiness, arguing colleges have eschewed their responsibility to help students land high-paying jobs after graduation. In recent legislative sessions, lawmakers approved policies that tied community college funding to student outcomes and increased state oversight of public universities.

The debate at hand, in both state and federal legislation, is what the mission of higher education is — to help students acquire knowledge or to prepare them for employment — and whether lawmakers or academics should be the ones to guide that trajectory.

As the number of job openings in the state climbs, the new federal law could bolster state leaders’ goal to more efficiently prepare Texans to meet workforce demand. It could also push students to rethink their career choices as they question how to afford higher education.

“The pendulum is starting to swing,” said Christina Etri, director of institutional improvement at ScholarShot, a Dallas-based nonprofit organization that supports students getting to and through college.

“We’re starting to see the implications of pushing college only for the last few years. Now we’re trying to backpedal a little bit on that to fill these other workforce needs.”

“Starting to see that tide turn”

Students will soon be able to receive Pell Grants to help pay for short-term workforce training programs between 8 and 15 weeks aimed at high-skill, high-wage jobs.

State workforce advocates and community colleges have long pushed for expansion of the grant, which they say will help more Texans access jobs in high-demand industry sectors, such as nursing and software development.

Texas is on track to have over 1.8 million job openings annually between 2022 and 2032, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. In North Texas, many of those vacancies are in health care, information and technology, and construction, said Michael Wood, vice president of education and workforce at the Dallas Regional Chamber.

Most of these jobs require education beyond high school, and workforce advocates fear Texans may lack access due to insufficient credentials.

The Pell Grant, which has a maximum amount of $7,395, could help nontraditional students, including parents who work full time, get the necessary credentials to land those high-paying jobs and fill workforce needs.

That means “better pathways to better life for our community members and more money being spent in the region,” Wood said.

At Dallas College, 80 of its 125 continuing education workforce programs meet the criteria for the workforce Pell Grant. The expansion would likely funnel more students into jobs in areas like early childhood education, health care and cybersecurity.

When Justin Munoz, 20, enrolled in a seven-month welding program at Tulsa Welding School last year, he went to classes at night and worked during the day as a diesel mechanic apprentice to afford the $23,000 price tag.

He had considered short-term welding programs at other schools, including Dallas College, where tuition is a few thousand dollars, but he would have had to drive an hour after work to attend those.

Tulsa Welding School was expensive, he said, but it was the most accessible option. It led to his current job at a metal fabrication shop, where he makes over $80,000 a year. He’s still paying off his trade school tuition.

If the workforce Pell Grant had been established last year, he would have picked differently, and narrowed his search to programs between 8 and 15 weeks long. A cheaper, short-term program, made even more affordable thanks to federal aid, would have allowed him to start work quicker and with less debt.

“If the school was paid for, I definitely would have taken it no matter what,” he said. “An hour drive isn’t really anything if it’s free.”

Etri, who helps high school students become college and career-ready, anticipates the Pell Grant expansion will push more students toward vocations.

“We haven’t always had a lot of students apply for workforce training programs,” she said. “But we’re starting to see that tide turn and I think this will incentivize more students.”

The legislation is already changing how Alex Guerrero, a junior at Bryan Adams High School, considers her future.

For years, her higher education options ranged from a four-year college and graduate school for nursing to vocational school for automotive engineering. But the legislation’s cap on graduate loans means a master’s in nursing is likely out of reach, she said. Going to trade school might be more affordable.

“It’s kind of shifted my opinion on nursing, even though it’s still something I’m considering,” she said.

Guerrero, who is graduating a year early, is keeping an eye out for short-term automotive engineering programs that fit the workforce Pell Grant’s criteria, but is hesitant to rule out longer programs.

“It makes me wonder, will [a short-term program] really benefit me, or is it just going to be something that helps me out a little bit and then tanks me later on?” she said, noting she worries she’ll miss out on certain training or opportunities if she chooses a shorter program.

Jonathan Feinstein, Texas state director at the nonprofit EdTrust, said the expansion of Pell Grants aligns with Texas’ move ”to throw more resources on the side of nondegree workforce credentials, and less on the side of the bachelor’s and advanced degrees.”

He thinks it’s too early to tell whether the emphasis on workforce development will lead to long-term prosperity for Texans.

“The state, and the country, wants to place its bets on this idea that we can set students up for economic opportunity and mobility without necessarily needing a bachelor’s or advanced degree,” he said. “I haven’t seen that data yet.”

Graduate school loan limits

Under the new law, students will face an overhauled federal loan system for advanced degrees.

Typically, students are able to borrow the total cost of graduate school through the federal grad Plus loan. The legislation eliminates that program and institutes new loan limits starting July 1, 2026.

Graduate students will not be allowed to take out more than $100,000 in direct unsubsidized loans. Those pursuing a professional degree, such as in medicine or law, will be limited to $200,000.

The median cost of medical school last year surpassed that borrowing limit — over $280,000 for public schools and over $390,000 for private schools, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. About half of all medical students take out grad Plus loans.

Education advocates say the new limits will shut out swaths of students from graduate and professional schools.

Jeff Lee, a recent Texas A&M graduate, decided he wanted to be a doctor after he watched his Korean grandmother, who had diabetes and spoke no English, struggle to get care from doctors who couldn’t overcome the language barrier.

In his junior year, Lee, a first-generation, low-income student, told his friends, “My plan A is to become a doctor. My plan B is to also become a doctor.” Achieving his goal, he said, had hinged upon the guarantee that he could take out grad Plus loans to pay for medical school.

When he heard Republicans planned to eliminate the program, he was “in disbelief.”

“Another cut to education,” the 22-year-old recalled thinking. “Another hindrance to becoming a doctor.”

Higher education advocates worry the loan limits will deter low-income students from pursuing careers in essential fields that require advanced degrees or push them to take out private loans, which tend to have higher interest rates and fewer protections.

“We know these programs are pretty costly, but it typically pays off. These are fields we continue to have in high demand. We can’t really afford to suddenly have a lack of physicians in this country,” said Roxanne Garza, director of higher education policy at the national nonprofit EdTrust.

Advocates are waiting to see if institutions will lower costs for certain programs.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing that we’re trying to make sure that students don’t graduate from a program with thousands of dollars of debt. But this isn’t necessarily bringing those costs down,” Garza said.

Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University are evaluating the potential impacts of the legislation on their graduate and medical programs.

“It’s too early for us to say. I think what you might see nationally is programs contract in size and maybe you’re going to have fewer graduate students because of who can afford it,” said SMU President Jay Hartzell. “I’m sure there are those that say, ‘Just cut the price for them.’ But at the end of the day, that would mean doing less of something. And you have to debate, what do we do less of?”

Many of SMU’s graduate programs are fully funded, which means the school waives tuition and provides a stipend, and students often have to do a teaching or research assistantship. When students take out loans, he said, it’s mostly to round out living expenses.

“We’ve already felt pressure to try to make sure our stipends are competitive,” Hartzell said. “This may increase that competitive pressure.”

Lee said he’s determined to attend medical school, but the path got more complicated.

He had planned to apply to competitive research positions in his two years off before enrolling. The law spurred him to get a job at Costco or H-E-B instead and save as much money as possible.

He’s narrowing his search to schools in Texas since he can’t afford out-of-state tuition. He had written off becoming a surgeon, since he felt more fulfilled giving patient-facing care, but now it’s back on the list — they typically make more money than orthopedic specialists or rheumatologists, he said. He’ll need that to pay back private loans.

“It seems like they’re trying to bring a larger gap between people who can pursue their dreams of becoming a doctor versus those who can’t afford it,” Lee said. “Now that I had the opportunity to go to college, it should be a building step for the future. People should be able to have the choice to go ahead and pursue higher education.”

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.