• Public comment is open on Trump’s student-loan repayment overhaul.
• New borrowing caps for post-graduate nursing programs dominated the conversation.
• Advocates and lawmakers expressed concern that the limits could exacerbate the healthcare shortage.

Nursing programs are taking center stage in the public conversation on President Donald Trump’s student-loan repayment overhaul.

Public comment on the Department of Education’s proposed student-loan changes has been open for one week, giving anyone the opportunity to submit feedback. Those changes include new income-driven repayment plans, updates to the handling of defaulted student loans, and new borrowing caps for advanced programs.

The new borrowing caps, in particular, have sparked conversation and concern among advocates, lawmakers, and students. The department proposed a $100,000 lifetime borrowing limit for graduate students and a $200,000 limit for professional students, and narrowed the programs that would qualify as “professional” to 10, including medicine, dentistry, and law.

Post-graduate nursing programs are not included in the professional definition, meaning that students in those programs would not qualify for the higher borrowing limit. Of the over 2,500 public comments received so far, more than 1,200 mentioned nursing. One comment, for example, said: “During a critical nursing shortage it’s vital that nurses are able to advance their education so they can teach the next generation of nurses.”

Another comment said: “Policies that make graduate nursing education less affordable will not only discourage nurses from advancing their education but will also reduce the number of nurse educators available to train the next generation of nurses. Fewer educators mean fewer nursing school slots and longer delays in bringing new nurses into the workforce, and ultimately compromising care.”

Ellen Keast, the department’s press secretary for education, previously cited data from the Department of Education showing that 95% of nursing students are borrowing within the student-loan limits when asked about concerns on the borrowing caps.

“As for the most expensive outlying 5%, enrolled students are grandfathered into current lending limits to ensure there are no barriers to completion,” Keast said. “We expect that institutions charging tuition rates well above market prices will consider lowering tuition thanks to these historic reforms.”

Data from the College Scorecard also showed that most advanced nursing programs would not be affected by the proposed caps. Still, many of the comments expressed concern that the caps could exacerbate the existing healthcare shortage. In December, a bipartisan group of over 140 lawmakers sent a letter to Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent, urging him to revise the definition of a professional degree to include postgraduate nursing programs.

“Classifying these programs as graduate programs would result in these students having to take out additional student loans to cover the remainder of their tuition, which will limit the ability for students to complete their advanced degree,” the lawmakers said. They referred to the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist program, which can cost over $200,000 — double the proposed cap for the program.

The public comment period for the repayment proposals ends on March 2. The department said in a press release that it “may make changes” to its regulations based on the feedback it receives before moving toward final implementation this summer.

• When I was a student at Stanford University, my classmates raved about ChatGPT.
• I refused to use the AI system because I would have done a disservice to myself.
• I had the privilege of learning from many fine writing instructors and professors — not ChatGPT.

It wasn’t until my junior year at Stanford University that I first heard about ChatGPT from classmates who’d mentioned they had “chat” summarize the class reading.

When I asked them what they meant by “chat,” they told me all about the AI tool, chatGPT.

I was an English major with a creative writing emphasis during my time at Stanford, so reading and writing were important to my work.

I wanted to ask the students who used ChatGPT to do the reading: Why are you even at Stanford? Why be at any university at all? Isn’t the point of pursuing higher education to expand our minds and become better communicators?

As I progressed through my studies, I would hear ChatGPT mentioned more and more often, with some college professors even adding an AI clause to their syllabi. Some instructors would allow students to use ChatGPT for assistance (a murky definition) while others wouldn’t allow it at all.

I refused to use the AI tool in any way.

I chose not to use ChatGPT as a Stanford student

I didn’t care if instructors allowed students to use ChatGPT. I deliberately chose not to use it at all.

Sure, studying and studying literature in particular was difficult, but this was why I’d chosen the major; it was challenging, and I wanted to become better with words.

I chose to become an English major because I wanted to improve my writing. I lacked confidence in my writing because I didn’t know how to use words when I first entered college. I didn’t have that finesse.

Apart from wanting to become a better writer, I also wanted to defend my opinions and thoughts with flair. I wanted to articulate sentiment precisely and formulate strong arguments. I wanted to write strongly worded emails. I wanted to think and speak freely.

I wouldn’t have been able to achieve any of that if I used ChatGPT.

It would be a disservice to my professors and the past students to use ChatGPT

Whenever I’d hear a peer say they just used ChatGPT for their homework assignments, I’d often think about the many deserving students who hadn’t been offered a seat at the university — students who, in a heartbeat, would’ve happily done these assignments themselves.

I had the privilege of studying words at a strong English literature department with so many fine writing instructors. I leaped at opportunities to have my very own work critiqued by great writers. I still can’t fathom having “my” writing, either partially or entirely synthetic, reviewed by instructors.

After all, I was writing in and walking about the same grounds that writing legends once did — writers like bell hooks, John Steinbeck, Karen Zacarías, and David Henry Hwang. With this writing pedigree in mind, I was inspired and motivated to write myself.

Not a day goes by without me putting my English degree to good use. Not a day goes by without me being grateful to my past self for putting in the work to earn the degree herself — without ChatGPT.

• Kristen Boelen, founder of Lunch Break Vintage.
• She regularly cruises thrift stores to supply her online stores.
• On a recent trip, she scored an authentic $3,000 Bottega Veneta bag. She paid $8 for it.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kristen Boelen, the founder of Lunch Break Vintage. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I have been thrifting since the moment I could drive. Back then, I was into higher-end things that were out of my budget, and I’d go thrift shopping to find similar items that I could afford. That habit carried on through college and beyond, including when I was most recently working as an art director for a wine and spirits company. While working there, I’d thrift on my lunch breaks.

I’d find stuff for myself, as well as one-of-a-kind items that didn’t fit. I wanted someone to take that stuff. So I began selling items on Whatnot.

I’d thrift on my lunch break from work, and then on the weekends I’d go live and sell my pieces. My business grew from there, and I named it Lunch Break Vintage, which I began full time in February 2025.

I scored a luxury designer bag during a recent shopping trip

In December 2025, I was at a thrift store in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was a normal Wednesday, which is the day this particular thrift store opens for the week, and when I always try to go. It was very empty that day.

Two woven leather bags caught my eye. You see woven leather bags all the time. There are so many Bottega Veneta dupes. I didn’t really think much about it, just that one of them looked exceptionally nice.

I first noticed the hardware, then the leather slouching and hanging. I could tell it was soft leather. When I picked it up, it was heavy — designer leather bags have a weight to them because of the hardware. I opened it up and saw the logo. You can see in the video that I posted that’s the moment my jaw drops. The leather inside was really soft and buttery too; that’s always a sign a bag is legitimate.

I know they sort through and send a lot of the higher-end pieces to an online audience. It seemed unrealistic that someone wouldn’t have set it aside. I thought, if they had put it out there, it must not be real.

I used technology to help confirm my suspicions

I took a photo of it and put it into Google Lens, and found on Vestaire Collective there was the exact same bag and color. That clued me into the style name and that it had been retired. There’s a video of me going, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” once I figured out where the serial tag was. I got out of there as quickly as possible, paying $8 for the bag.

I later had it authenticated through an app I use called Authentic Detective. It will give you a certificate of authenticity. Online research says the bag is valued at around $3,000.

I’m keeping the bag for myself. It’s something that will be passed down for generations. I had so many comments on the video saying that the bag was ugly, but I love it.

Scoring finds at the thrift store takes a little skill — and luck

I thrift all the time because I now do this for a living, but I think consistency is key. I thrift at least three times a week, every week. It’s also important not to just pick up what is trending. A good secondhand item has to check all the boxes for me, and I really care about quality, always looking for natural fibers. I focus on what makes people feel elevated and the kinds of secondhand pieces they can keep in their closets forever.

Don’t believe that middle-of-nowhere places are garbage. Some of my best, coolest, most unique pieces have come from middle-of-nowhere stores.

• Vibe-coding has reached a new level, Andrej Karpathy says.
• Prompting AI to write code has revolutionized the tech industry.
• Now, the OpenAI founder says “agentic engineering” is the next big thing.

“Vibe-coding” just celebrated its first birthday. That’s a lifetime in the AI boom.

Now, the man who coined the term is celebrating the birth of a new one: “agentic engineering.”

While vibe-coding is when humans prompt AI to write code, OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy says agentic engineering is when AI agents write the code themselves.

“Many people have tried to come up with a better name for this to differentiate it from vibe coding, personally, my current favorite is ‘agentic engineering,'” he wrote in a recent X post.

Karpathy said he calls it “agentic engineering” not just because agents are writing the code, but because “there is an art & science and expertise to it.”

Vibe-coding is one of the biggest innovations of the AI revolution. Prominent CEOs and startup founders alike are encouraging the use of vibe-coding across their teams. And billions are being poured into new vibe-coding companies.

Lovable, one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, announced that it had raised $330 million in Series B funding at a $6.6 billion valuation in December. Cursor, an AI-assisted code editor, announced a Series D funding round of $2.3 billion in November and said it had surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue.

The approach is also threatening traditional engineering jobs. In a Business Insider survey of 167 software engineers, 75 engineers said that they were “keeping up,” while 30 said they felt ahead of the curve, and 27 felt behind.

“Vibe coding is now mentioned on my Wikipedia as a major memetic ‘contribution,’ and even its article is longer. lol,” Karpathy wrote on X about its meteoric rise.

Karpathy was a founding member of OpenAI in 2015, years before competitors like Anthropic and xAI emerged. He later moved into self-driving technology, leading Tesla’s Autopilot program as head of AI. He’s now building Eureka Labs, which describes itself on its website as building a “new kind of school that is AI native.”

• Many Super Bowl advertisers are blending comedy with celebrities this year.
• Advertisers want to play it safe in a charged political climate, industry experts said.
• The average price for 30 seconds of airtime during Super Bowl LX was $8 million.

In a charged political climate where even small missteps can spark a brand backlash, many of this year’s Super Bowl advertisers are sticking with the safest bet in the playbook: comedy and celebrities.

Much like last year’s Super Bowl, the vast majority of the big game ads released so far are playing it safe. Advertisers hope that A-list stars will be a shortcut to attention in the crowded field of commercials, and that humor will leave audiences feeling uplifted and warm toward their brand.

“In general, advertisers want to play it safe,” said Peter Daboll, head of North America at the creative testing platform DAIVID. “There’s a high anxiety level here in the US, and people are probably very afraid of triggering anything.”

Viewers aren’t in the mood to be preached to, he added, and even heartwarming ads that might have performed well in Super Bowls past could come across as too “syrupy” and fall flat.

Of the Super Bowl LX trailers and teasers the TV measurement platform iSpot has tested with its consumer panel so far, 63% triggered “funny” reactions from viewers. The highest “funny” score right now goes to Bud Light for its “Keg” ad, which features Shane Gillis, Post Malone, and Peyton Manning flailing down a hill in an attempt to catch up with a runaway beer keg.

Other ads hoping to raise a chuckle:

• Andy Samberg stars as “Meal Diamond” for Hellmann’s, performing a “Sweet Caroline” parody in a deli to customers, including Elle Fanning.
• Fanatics Sportsbook tapped a self-deprecating Kendall Jenner to mock the “Kardashian Curse,” the internet conspiracy that dating members of the family ruins an athlete’s game.
• Instacart’s vintage-style ad features actor Ben Stiller and singer Benson Boone in a high-energy— and ultimately calamitous — musical performance about choosing the perfect banana.
• Novartis is making itself the butt of Super Bowl joke ads, with NFL players telling viewers to “relax your tight end” and get a blood test for prostate cancer.
• Comcast’s Xfinity reunites some of the original “Jurassic Park” cast to suggest that many of the famous dinosaur park’s problems could have been avoided with better WiFi.
• Anthropic is taking a swipe at OpenAI over its decision to bring ads to ChatGPT.
• Even the heartwarming story of a Budweiser Clydesdale horse helping a bald eagle learn how to fly ends with a joke about getting misty-eyed.

The cast of celebrities in the commercial breaks will range from Sabrina Carpenter for Pringles to Emma Stone for Squarespace and Guy Fieri for Bosch.

Mark Gross, cofounder of the ad agency Highdive, which has produced several Super Bowl campaigns over the years, said the Hollywood landscape had changed and that celebrities are now more open to appearing in commercials than in previous years.

“It’s the job of us at ad agencies and marketers to tell great, original stories that stand out without just hiring the celebrity first and expecting that to do the work for you,” he added.

Highdive worked on a Super Bowl commercial for Lay’s this year.

Money talks

There’s a lot at stake.

The Super Bowl remains one of the last mass-reach media advertising destinations. Last year’s Super Bowl averaged a record-high US audience of 127.7 million viewers, per Nielsen, the TV ratings company.

The average price for 30 seconds of airtime during Super Bowl LX was $8 million, with some spots selling for more than $10 million, according to this year’s big game broadcaster, NBCUniversal. Then there are the millions of dollars spent on talent fees, production, and media buys to amplify the ad after the game ends.

“CMOs are under so much pressure,” said Kerry Benson, SVP of creative strategy at the data and analytics company Kantar.

“They have to prove ROI in these ads,” she said, referring to return on investment.

The rewards can be handsome if brands play their Super Bowl strategies right.

In 2024, Kantar found that Super Bowl ads delivered an average return on investment of $8.60 for every $1 spent, making them 20 times more effective than regular TV ads. Benson said this reflects the size of the audience during the game and all the supporting activity and discussion around a Super Bowl campaign.

A different approach

Not every brand is adopting the comedy-and-celebrity playbook.

Rocket and Redfin’s ad amplifies the emotion with a stirring Lady Gaga cover of Mr. Rogers’ “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” The spot leans into a moment of heightened division in many US communities, highlighting the importance of small acts of kindness and human connection.

Elsewhere, Hims & Hers’ “Rich People Live Longer” spot strikes a provocative tone about US healthcare inequality, featuring a couple of characters that resemble Jeff Bezos and the biohacker Bryan Johnson.

“When you are challenging a system that has been broken for generations, the work cannot feel familiar or safe,” said Hims & Hers chief design officer, Dan Kenger. “The creative has to feel disruptive because that’s what is needed to change the status quo of healthcare.”

Anselmo Ramos, creative chairman at the advertising agency GUT, is nostalgic for ads that didn’t lean on celebrity as a shortcut to success — Apple’s “1984,” Budweiser’s frogs, the Geico caveman, and the E-Trade baby. He’s also hoping to see more bold, anthemic spots in the sea of comedic commercials.

“I’m missing executions with a brand purpose, with a clear point of view,” Ramos said. “We need them more than ever.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

• Bad Bunny is headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show this Sunday.
• The Puerto Rican singer has established himself as an icon of extravagant menswear.
• His style evolution includes some misses during the early days of his career.

Bad Bunny is headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show on Sunday, and fans are eager to see how his outfit might play a role in the production.

Since his 2016 debut, Bad Bunny has established himself as a fearless fashion icon, often talking about how central his style is to who he is in songs like “Yo Visto Así,” where he sings, “I wear what I want, I won’t change / If you don’t like it, you don’t have to look.”

While the singer’s unapologetic fashion style has been one of the many things that’s helped him become a worldwide superstar, his fashion evolution tells a story of experimentation … and the unavoidable mistakes that come with it.

As we prepare to see the singer take the stage at the Super Bowl this Sunday, take a look back at some of his most iconic looks through the years, starting with his best.

Bad Bunny’s 2026 Grammys ensemble was a true winning suit.

At the 2026 Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny didn’t just make history as the first artist to win the album of the year award for an album sung in a foreign language, but he was also the first to wear a custom Schiaparelli Haute Couture menswear look on a red carpet.

To receive the big award, the singer wore a black-tie tuxedo designed by Daniel Roseberry. It featured a corset-like back lace-up detail, an exaggerated silhouette that’s a signature of the fashion house, and Schiaparelli’s measuring tape motif on the lapel.

The singer paired it with diamond Cartier jewelry.

His stylist, Storm Pablo, said the outfit was “the most elevated version” of the singer, per Vogue. “This is something really refreshing and new,” Pablo added.

Bad Bunny looked straight out of the ’70s at the SNL Homecoming Concert in 2025.

Performing at the SNL50 Homecoming Concert in New York’s Radio City Music Hall, Bad Bunny paid homage to the style of legendary salsa singers like Hector Lavoe and Willie Colón.

His burgundy suit and bright-blue shirt, paired with Ray-Ban tinted sunglasses and gold jewelry, gave the singer a look worthy of the New York salsa scene in the 1970s and 1980s.

The look was a nod to the many salsa influences in Bad Bunny’s latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”

His 2024 Met Gala look was a standout of the night.

His third Met Gala appearance — and first serving as a co-chair for the event — was among the best and most acclaimed.

The singer wore a custom Maison Margiela Artisanal suit designed by John Galliano that stood out for its theatrical flair.

It included a navy suit with white stitching detail, a dark floral fabric bouquet, and a surreal sculptural hat that reflected the fashion house’s avant-garde style. The outfit also included leather gloves, geometric sunglasses, and a horse-like pair of Margiela’s signature Tabi shoes.

The look was commended as one of the night’s best and cemented the singer’s growing presence as a menswear icon.

He embodied cool maximalist style while headlining Coachella in 2023.

During his headlining set at Coachella in 2023, the singer wore a maximalist custom ERL patchwork puffer jacket and matching pants. The outfit was full of overly saturated, busy patterns that included florals, stripes, and plaid.

The eccentric and colorful look matched the show’s stadium-level production and high-energy setlist as he performed songs from his 2022 summer album, “Un Verano Sin Ti.”

His 2023 Met Gala look was spot-on with the night’s theme.

At the 2023 Met Gala, Bad Bunny wore a custom all-white Jacquemus suit with a cutout back and a dangling “J” as a nod to the look’s designer. It also featured a dramatic, 26-foot-long rosette cape.

The outfit was spot-on for the event, which honored the late Karl Lagerfeld, and broke away from traditional menswear choices, becoming one of the most talked-about looks of the night.

His Grammy debut in 2021 was emblematic while staying simple.

For his debut at the Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny went for an outfit that was playful without feeling gimmicky.

The singer wore an all-black Burberry look, which he paired with a hat resembling bunny ears and tinted sunglasses.

In contrast to the simple, monochromatic outfit, he carried a bright sunflower, which added to the look’s playfulness and served as a nod to the more colorful, adventurous fashion choices he’d become known for.

Although simple, the sunflower detail was one of the most talked-about accessories of the night. “Bad Bunny’s fully bloomed sunflower has managed to make my heart swell,” wrote Vogue’s Liana Satenstein.

On the other hand, his 2017 Latin American Music Awards look was … a lot.

If we go back in Bad Bunny style history, there are certain moments that stand out … and not in a good way. His floral Gucci suit at the 2017 Latin American Music Awards is one of them.

The then-up-and-coming artist wore a loud floral suit, paired with bedazzled, tinted sunglasses and excessive diamond jewelry, including grills and layered necklaces. The suit also had embroidered details on the lapel, which were accentuated by flower details, and diamond buttons.

While the singer — who had a buzzcut back then — might look almost unrecognizable in this look, it signaled his strong sense of style right at the beginning of his career.

But does that make it a good look? Well …

The singer’s purple sparkly suit at the 2018 Billboard Latin Music Awards wasn’t quite there.

Another early look from the Puerto Rican singer shared some of the same qualities: It was a bright, unique look.

Bad Bunny wore a shiny purple suit with metallic fabrics, embroidered details, and gems along the lapel edges. He wore it with an equally shiny metallic shirt underneath, a large diamond cross necklace, and lilac sunglasses.

While it was certainly a daring look, there was just too much going on, unlike the more pared-down, chic looks he would later wear.

His outfit looked out of place as he performed with Marc Anthony and Will Smith at the 2018 Latin Grammys.

While Bad Bunny’s performance with Marc Anthony and Will Smith at the 19th annual Latin Grammy Awards brought energy to the night, fashion-wise, it was a bit confusing.

While Anthony stuck with his classic black-and-white suit, Smith opted for a sparkly black jacket and shirt for the stage. Bad Bunny, on the other hand, chose an outfit that was more of a reflection of the times’ quickly fading trends, worn all at once.

He wore silver pleather pants, a zebra-print shirt, and a burgundy velvet bomber jacket, along with pink sunglasses, for the performance.

Onstage, the look felt out of place with his collaborators’ style choices. It also probably started looking dated about 15 minutes after the performance ended.

His outfit for performing at Coachella in 2019 was all about logo mania.

The singer wore a loud Louis Vuitton matching outfit at his 2019 Coachella performance, pairing the oversized ensemble with visor-style lenses that covered most of his face.

The outfit was covered in pastel rainbow logos, leaving little room for mistaking the look for another designer’s.

His mismatched look for the 2019 Annual Latin Grammy Awards also fell short.

To accept the award for best urban music album at the Latin Grammys for his debut album “X 100Pre,” Bad Bunny wore a look that combined multiple patterns and color palettes.

The singer wore a mismatching short-sleeve button-down shirt and plaid shorts with a zip-up turtle-neck-like collar, a black bucket hat, dark sunglasses, and Gucci knee pads.

The outfit matched the singer’s 2018 album title “Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana,” which translates to “I do whatever I want.”

Bad Bunny’s 2022 Met Gala debut was exciting but received mixed reviews.

For his 2022 Met Gala debut, Bad Bunny wore a bold Burberry ensemble designed by Riccardo Tisci. The look featured a camel-colored jacket with dramatic puffed sleeves, an eye-catching silhouette, and a matching skirt over a classic, more masculine-leaning, light-blue collared shirt and black tie.

He accessorized with a hair updo and small hand-held sunglasses.

The theme of the night was “Gilded Glamor and White Tie.”

“I researched what was going on during the Gilded Age in my country, in Puerto Rico,” the singer told Vogue. “We mixed the men’s looks with women’s.”

It was an exciting, audacious look with a rich connection to the night’s theme and Bad Bunny’s roots, but it worked better conceptually than on the red carpet. It was a divisive choice, landing him on both “best dressed” and “worst dressed” lists for the night.