{"id":11522,"date":"2026-01-21T12:25:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/?p=11522"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:47:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T19:47:03","slug":"survey-68-say-new-obbba-loan-caps-will-slash-grad-school-enrollment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarshipowl.com\/blog\/paying-for-college\/survey-68-say-new-obbba-loan-caps-will-slash-grad-school-enrollment\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey: 68% Say New OBBBA Loan Caps Will Slash Grad School Enrollment"},"content":{"rendered":"

For twenty years, the federal Grad PLUS loan<\/a> served as a financial safety net, allowing graduate students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance to pursue their dreams.<\/span> However, that era is coming to a close. With the passage of the <\/span>“One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA)<\/span><\/a>, the federal government is moving away from unlimited lending toward a system emphasizing fewer loan repayment options and loan caps.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As these changes loom for the 2026\u201327 academic year, ScholarshipOwl<\/a> surveyed over 22,000 students to gauge how these limits will reshape their futures. The results are a sobering look at a generation of students who may be forced to choose between their career aspirations and their financial survival.<\/p>\n

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Decoding the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”<\/b><\/h2>\n

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Signed into law on July 4, 2025, the OBBBA<\/a> introduces strict limits on federal borrowing to curb rising tuition and national debt.<\/span> While undergraduate limits remain stable, the graduate landscape is fundamentally changing:<\/p>\n

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Grad PLUS Loans Are Phasing Out<\/h3>\n

Grad PLUS Loans will no longer be available to new borrowers starting <\/span>July 1, 2026<\/span>. New graduate students will still be able to borrow federal unsubsidized student loans; however, Grad PLUS Loans will not be an option. Existing graduate students will have access to both Grad PLUS Loans and unsubsidized federal student loans until June 30, 2028.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Loan Caps for “Standard” Graduate Programs<\/span><\/h3>\n

For most master’s and doctoral degrees, federal borrowing is now capped at <\/span>$20,500 annually<\/span> and <\/span>$100,000 lifetime<\/span>, not including undergraduate student loans.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The “Professional” Distinction<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Department of Education has designated a select group of “professional” programs\u2014including <\/span>Medicine (MD\/DO), Law (JD), and Dentistry (DDS\/DMD)<\/span>\u2014for higher caps of <\/span>$50,000 annually<\/span> and <\/span>$200,000 lifetime, not including undergraduate student loans<\/span>. While these caps are higher, the costs of these programs often exceed these higher caps, which will necessitate private loan borrowing for many of these students.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Total Ceiling<\/h3>\n

A new total lifetime limit of <\/span>$257,500<\/span> now applies to all combined undergraduate and graduate federal borrowing.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The “Professional Degree” Controversy<\/h2>\n

The Trump Administration\u2019s recent rulemaking<\/a> has sparked intense debate. By excluding critical fields like <\/span>Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling<\/span> from the “professional” designation, the Department has effectively categorized these high-cost, high-impact careers as “standard” graduate degrees.<\/span> This means a student pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or a Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT) will face the same $20,500 annual limit as a student in a lower-cost humanities program, despite the significantly higher tuition typical of clinical healthcare training.<\/p>\n

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Some of the programs of study expected to be designated as “standard” degrees include:<\/p>\n

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