Grad non-professional cap: $20.5K/year, $100K total
Graduate students in non-professional master's programs are now capped at $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total federal borrowing.
Snapshot · The Daily
Why Americans Will Get Less Help Paying for College
Explore episode
Jul 1, 2026
Where this was said
The New Loan Caps: What Parents and Grad Students Can Now Borrow
At 7:25 · chapter starts 3:00
Lieber walks through the two main policy changes in concrete detail. The first is a new set of caps on federal loans. Parents who previously could borrow the full cost of attendance — which at some schools exceeds $100,000 per year — are now capped at $20,000 annually and $65,000 in total through the parent PLUS loan program. For graduate students borrowing for themselves, the limits depend on the program: $20,500/year and $100,000 aggregate for standard non-professional master's programs, and $50,000/year with a $200,000 total cap for professional programs in fields like law, medicine, dentistry, and business. Lieber notes ongoing litigation over which programs qualify as 'professional.' The administration's stated rationale is counterintuitive but internally coherent: by limiting how much families can borrow, the government hopes to pressure schools into lowering tuition to match what students can actually pay. [1] — Ron Lieber "Starting July 1, 2026, parents are capped at $20,000/year and $65,000 total in federal PLUS loans — less than a single year's tuition at ma…" 05:01
The New Federal Loan Caps, Explained
Starting July 1, 2026, parents are capped at $20,000/year and $65,000 total in federal PLUS loans — less than a single year's tuition at many universities. Graduate students face their own caps: $20,500/year for non-professional programs, $50,000/year for professional programs like law or medical school.
Parent PLUS Loan cap: $20K/year, $65K total
New federal rules cap parent PLUS loans at $20,000 per year and $65,000 over the entire undergraduate period, far less than many schools' annual tuition.
Professional grad cap: $50K/year, $200K total
Students in professional programs like business, dental, law, and medical school are limited to $50,000 per year and $200,000 in total federal borrowing.
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