CINCINNATI — Hundreds of new University of Cincinnati students began swarming the campus this week as part of a new class of hopeful young minds seeking better opportunities.
Many of them have already or will soon join the 1.7 million Ohioans who have a cumulative $62.6 billion in student debt, according to the Education Data Initiative, and changes put in motion by passage of President Donald Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill will impact what the students have access to and how they'll be able to pay it back.
WATCH: We talk with students beginning their student loan journey
Octavia Conwell and Kameryn Clark both took out small loans to help them in their freshman year, and both said they were going to be proactive to ensure the loans didn't balloon out of control.
"I'm trying to work my way through how to pay for it," Clark said.
Conwell said she was going to take advantage of a program that allowed her to pay the loan's interest while she completed her degree.
"Your interest is already taken care of, so you can just start paying off the loan, instead of just all compounded together," she said.
Benjamin Pino said his parents took advantage of a Parent PLUS loan to help him out, but he was unaware that the program would see limits beginning in 2026 because of the BBB's passage.
Students will need to pay attention to law and eligibility changes for years to come, according to Jack Wallace, Government and Lender Relations Director at Yrefy.
"We have some stuff that starts July 1, 2026, and some stuff that starts on July 1, 2027, and some that starts on July 1, 2028, so we need to pay attention," he said.
Wallace said there are positives and negatives in the bill for borrowers, but with fewer repayment options and stricter limitations on how much borrowers can take in federal student loans, students will need to be more stingy about which colleges they pick, the level of education they are seeking and how long they plan to stay in school.
"The bottom line is that we need to become 'better educated,' and I'll put that in quotations, consumers," he said.
Wallace urged current students or former students still struggling with debt to visit studentaid.gov regularly, specifically the page dedicated to BBB updates, to ensure they're taking advantage of every saving, following the proper repayment plans and not allowing their debt to be turned over to creditors.
He warned that credit scores are now being ruined as student loan payments go ignored.
