The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump’s nearly 1,000-page “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” sending the sweeping reconciliation package back to the House for a final vote. The legislation, championed by Republicans including Sen. Bill Cassidy, folds major changes to federal higher-education finance into a broader drive to cut spending and taxes. The measure would overhaul student lending by repealing the Pay-As-You-Earn and SAVE income-driven repayment plans for new borrowers after July 2026 and phasing them out entirely by 2028. Their replacement, the Repayment Assistance Plan, would stretch payments to as long as 30 years, with lower interest accrual but higher overall costs. The Income-Based Repayment plan survives, but its cap on monthly payments would disappear. Access to federal credit would narrow sharply. The Graduate PLUS program would be scrapped, replaced by lifetime borrowing limits of $100,000 for most graduate students and $200,000 for medical and law students. Parent PLUS loans would be capped at $65,000 and barred from income-driven repayment or Public Service Loan Forgiveness, while undergraduate Parent PLUS borrowing would be limited to $20,000 per year. Advocates say the changes could raise monthly payments for millions of borrowers. A single parent earning $70,000, for example, could see payments jump from about $85 under SAVE to roughly $310–$375 under the new regime, adding as much as $37,000 in lifetime costs. Roughly 8 million borrowers awaiting the Biden-era SAVE plan would have to choose between the new RAP or a standard amortization schedule. Colleges also face fresh pressure: programs whose graduates fail to meet earnings thresholds in two out of three years would lose eligibility for federal loans. The House is expected to vote within days; if it accepts the Senate version, the package will head to President Trump for his signature.