States can run student loan programs with fewer federal rules.

What it does

This bill lets state agencies and nonprofits offer student loans. They do not have to follow some federal rules for private lenders. State loan programs must offer rates as good as federal PLUS loans. Schools must tell borrowers to use federal loans first. The bill asks the government to study how student borrowing changed.

Who it affects

State loan programs, schools, and students who borrow for college. Schools may have fewer rules to follow.

One thing to notice

Schools must tell students to use federal loans first. The bill does not say how to check if schools actually do this. State loan programs do not have to tell students about all costs and terms like private lenders must.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

6 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 2 Democrats.

• Mar 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Mar 16, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”
• Mar 19, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Hearings held”
• Jul 30, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

4 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 5 reports from Mar 2026 to Jun 2026.

Those reports show $677,531 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 6 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 72% of bills with any report.

Lisa Murkowski, who sponsored the bill, received $378,300 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• Slm Corporation — $630,000 in 2 reports
• American Council on Education — $37,531 in 1 report
• Ecmc Shared Services Co. Obo Ecmc — $10,000 in 1 report
• Accesslex Institute (fka Access Group, Inc.) — $0 in 1 report

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• federal PLUS loans — Loans the government offers to parents and graduate students for college.
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
• sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.