RE: Big Beautiful Bill and Podiatric Education
From: Rod Tomczak, DPM, MD, EdD
The budget bill that President Trump signed, The One Big Beautiful Bill, may have just put the final nail in the podiatric education discussion. It seems there is a $50,000 limit on professional school loans per year and a $200,000 lifetime cap. There is a federal student combined cap of $257,500 for lifetime undergrad plus graduate loans. All our discussions concerning the future of podiatric education may have been a waste of time when one considers the undergrad plus graduate loans needed to become a podiatrist.
Students can always obtain private loans from the APMA. When I sarcastically called for students’ parents to take out an additional mortgage, I never dreamed it would come to fruition so quickly. Our discussions on podiatric education just became as absurd as Sartre’s view of the world. Let's see how podiatry responds to today's crisis.
If anyone remembers the Vietnam War movie “Hamburger Hill”, there was a recurring refrain throughout the movie that went “It don’t mean nothin’, not a thing.” Ladies and Gentlemen, write your Congressmen and Women. It worked to end the war in Vietnam.
Rod Tomczak, DPM, MD, EdD, Columbus, OH
