Graduate School Loans: Limits Impacting Future Borrowers

Hundreds of thousands of students take out graduate school loans to pay for their advanced degrees. For these students, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will bring changes — and limits — to federal graduate student loan programs.

Direct Unsubsidized Loans for graduate school taken out after July 1, 2026, will have annual and cumulative caps. The new limits for pre-professional programs (like law school and medical school) are $50,000 annually and $200,000 cumulatively. For other graduate programs, the limits are $20,500 annually and $100,000 overall. The lifetime maximum federal borrowing limit, which includes undergraduate and graduate education but excludes parent PLUS loans, is $257,500.

If you are enrolled less than full-time, your borrowing limits may be lower.

Already, private loan providers are reacting. Sallie Mae announced in March that it would be expanding graduate loan options for medical and dental students. The available loans will cover school certified costs and expand credit eligibility for qualified students.

“The new limits will likely put graduate school out of reach for many people,” says Kyra Taylor, a staff attorney who focuses on student loans at the National Consumer Law Center. “We know Pell grant recipients, or folks that came from low-income families, will be particularly hard hit, as will many students of color.

“That means that communities across the country will lose many talented professionals in high-demand professions, like doctors, nurses, teachers, principals, public interest attorneys, and more, in the coming years,” Taylor says.

What program you enroll in will determine how much in federal loans you can borrow annually and over your lifetime.

The definition of a professional degree is new under this Trump administration. Now, there are restrictions on what degrees are considered professional.