Starting grad school after July 1, 2026, how much can you borrow without Grad PLUS?

Summary

New graduate students can borrow only Direct Unsubsidized Loans, up to $20,500 a year and $100,000 in total, and professional students up to $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total. Grad PLUS is left only for students who were already enrolled in the same program at the same school on June 30, 2026 and had borrowed a Direct Loan for it before July 1. Undergraduate loans no longer count against the new graduate totals, but everything a student borrows is now capped at $257,500 over a lifetime.

Grad PLUS is closed to new students

Federal Student Aid describes the change as the law gradually ending PLUS eligibility for graduate and professional students. The only way to keep borrowing it is the limited exception. You must have been enrolled in the program as of June 30, 2026, borrowed a Direct Loan for that program before July 1, 2026, and stayed enrolled in the same program at the same school since, with an approved leave of absence not counting as a break. Someone starting a program in fall 2026 cannot meet the first condition.

The bar is higher than it is for undergraduates, who can switch majors and keep the exception. Graduate students have to stay in the same program, and FSA suggests asking the financial aid office before changing even a concentration. If your school merges with another, you keep the exception. If it closes, you keep it only by transferring to a school with a teach-out agreement.

The online PLUS application cannot tell whether you qualify. The school decides. For students who do, Grad PLUS still covers cost of attendance minus other aid, carries a 9.07% fixed rate for loans first disbursed in 2026–27 and a 4.228% fee, and requires a credit check. The exception lasts for three academic years or the rest of the program, whichever is shorter.

Your undergraduate loans no longer eat into the graduate limit

Under the old rules, the $138,500 graduate aggregate included undergraduate borrowing. The new $100,000 graduate limit counts only loans for graduate study, and the $200,000 professional limit counts graduate and professional study. The $257,500 lifetime cap is what now ties the whole education together.

Dependent undergrad max, then a master's $31,000 + $100,000 = $131,000 ($126,500 under the lifetime cap) Independent undergrad max, then a professional degree $57,500 + $200,000 = $257,500 (exactly the lifetime cap)

Moving from a graduate program into a professional one shrinks the professional room. The $200,000 limit is reduced by whatever you borrowed as a graduate student, so $40,000 borrowed for a master's leaves $160,000 for law or medical school. The $100,000 graduate limit itself applies only to borrowers who are not, and have never been, professional students.

Students in health profession programs who had higher limits before the change keep them while they stay in the interim exception. They move to the new limits as soon as they lose it.

The gap Grad PLUS used to fill

These annual amounts are unsubsidized loans only. For a master's program with a $70,000 cost of attendance, federal loans now cover $20,500 and leave $49,500 a year before any grants or scholarships. If the same program counts as professional, the gap drops to $20,000. That depends on how the program is classified, and FSA tells students to ask the school which it is. The article on 2026 borrowing limits covers the professional-degree definition and the court-ordered interim list.

Private loans that fill the rest come with a credit check and terms set by the lender. The comparison of federal and private loans explains what changes, and the article on cosigners covers what a parent takes on by signing.

Sources

Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from the sources' published pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.