Blue State Taps Massive ‘Emergency’ Fund To Hand Out Student Loans

One blue state legislature is rolling out a statewide student loan program that will tap the state’s “emergency” fund to replace a federal program slashed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

Connecticut lawmakers are calling for the use of state emergency funds to replace the federal GradPLUS program, which offered graduate students up to the cost of their degree minus the $20,500 a year already available through unsubsidized loans. According to the Connecticut 🎓Education Association (CEA), $20 million of the cost would be fronted by the Connecticut Higher 🎓Education Supplemental Loan Authority (CHESLA), a quasi-public organization. Another $10 million would potentially come from the state’s $500 million emergency reserve fund, originally created in November in response to “federal cuts toward health and human services” by the Trump administration.

“The federal government is closing the door on opportunity by canceling the federal GradPLUS loan program, ending an essential program that has allowed thousands of students to afford to earn a graduate degree,” Democratic state Rep. Gregg Haddad, co-chair of the Higher