Overview

• Starting July 1, 2026, graduate professional borrowers face caps of $50,000 per year and $200,000 total, while all students become subject to a $257,500 aggregate federal loan limit.
• Borrowers will have only a standard fixed-payment plan and a new income-based Repayment Assistant Plan, with economic hardship deferments limited to nine months within any 24-month period and interest accruing during pauses.
• The Biden-era SAVE Plan will resume interest accrual on August 1, 2026, and is slated for full elimination by July 2028 under the new law.
• Full-ride scholarship recipients will lose Pell Grant eligibility even as Pell aid expands to community college job-training programs.
• Advocacy groups warn that caps and the elimination of Grad PLUS loans may deter low-income, first-generation and students of color, pushing some toward higher-rate private loans or lower-cost programs.