A cash crunch has hit a popular student-loan program in Texas so hard that thousands of students won’t receive aid that they may have been depending on to enroll for fall classes, which are just weeks away, according to the Associated Press. The interest-free loans are called “B On Time” loans because they were created in order to encourage students to graduate on time, and thereby relieve a shortage of space at state colleges and universities. Students who graduate on time and maintain a B average may have their loans forgiven.

But an $8-million cut in the program’s budget this year has made it impossible to finance loans for any new students, as well as for several hundred returning students. The students and their parents are voicing Texas-size displeasure. Financial-aid officers are trying to set up alternative aid packages for the students, although none is likely to be as generous as the “B On Time” program. —Andrew Mytelka