Overview
- The finalized package eliminates Grad PLUS, caps Parent PLUS, and sets explicit limits of $20,500 per year (up to $100,000) for graduate students and $50,000 per year (up to $200,000) for professional students.
- The Department is consolidating repayment into a single Repayment Assistance Plan that launches in July 2026, with borrowers’ qualifying payments made before that date remaining protected.
- PSLF eligibility is narrowed to exclude employers deemed to have a “substantial illegal purpose,” with the education secretary empowered to determine ineligibility based on court judgments, settlements, or other evidence.
- Employers can regain PSLF eligibility after corrective action or a decade, while the lawsuit by four cities—including Boston and Chicago—and major labor unions challenges the new criteria as unlawful and harmful to public-sector staffing.
- The RISE Committee reached consensus on the rules, which officials say aim to curb unsustainable borrowing and tuition pressures across a system serving about 42 million borrowers with roughly $1.7 trillion in debt.