What the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Means for Digital Learning in Higher Education

There is no shortage of news items about Congress recently passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). We know that the OBBBA was a massive budget bill that was passed using an expedited process, created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, called “reconciliation.” This process allows for the Senate to pass the legislation by a simple majority, rather than the more restrictive sixty-vote supermajority.

Additionally, this process avoids a potential Senate filibuster. This special process is used specifically for addressing legislation pertaining to taxes and spending. Reconciliation is subject to oversight by the Senate Parliamentarian, utilizing a Senate rule called the Byrd Rule. In short, the Byrd Rule provides that the Senate Parliamentarian can remove bill provisions that are deemed extraneous to the purpose of developing budget policy. For more information about the nuanced reconciliation process, you may wish to review The Reconciliation Process: Frequently Asked Questions provided by the Library of Congress.

While this budget-focused bill touches a lot of policy areas, it includes some notable changes that affect higher education. The original U.S. House of Representatives version of the bill included items with a more significant impact on higher education, dramatically affecting students and institutions. The Senate’s version of the bill mitigated the impact, as we will discuss. The House accepted the Senate’s changes, passed the bill, and sent the approved version of the bill to President Trump for his signature into law.

In this post, we will focus on four key areas from OBBBA that affect digital learning in higher education:

1. Loan Limitations & Title IV Eligibility
2. Pell Grants (including the new Workforce Pell)
3. Regulatory Relief
4. Institutional and Program Accountability, including a discussion of “gainful employment” and how it expands to all programs.

We’ll also share how institutions can adapt to better serve their students and effectively manage the changes.[...]