Will new loan limits lower the cost of grad school?

The podcast episode, "The Indicator from Planet Money," begins with a message about public media funding, highlighting the elimination of federal funding for NPR and local stations, and encouraging listeners to support NPR Plus. The main segment discusses the November jobs report, which indicates a cooling labor market with 64,000 jobs added and an unemployment rate increase to 4.6%. The hosts then delve into the impact of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" on federal loans for graduate students, specifically the elimination of the Grad Plus program. They explore the "Bennett Hypothesis," which suggests that increased federal aid leads to tuition hikes, and discuss how the new act's annual and lifetime borrowing limits, along with the "professional designation" for certain fields, could affect student debt, tuition prices, and the pipeline of healthcare workers. The episode concludes by noting the ongoing debate and public comment period for these new rules.