New Graduate School Loan Limits Start July 1: What Students Need to Know
The College Investor
Robert Farrington
June 15, 2026
Key Points
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Starting July 1, 2026, the federal Grad PLUS program closes to new borrowers, and graduate borrowing is capped at $20,500 a year and $100,000 total. Professional students, such as future doctors, dentists, and lawyers, can borrow $50,000 a year and $200,000 total.
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A new overall federal borrowing ceiling of $257,500, which includes undergraduate debt, means many students will reach a hard limit that federal aid alone won’t cover.
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Private student loans, including Abe® can help close the gap between the federal caps and the real cost of a graduate or professional degree.
The way students pay for graduate school is about to change. Starting July 1, 2026, the federal government will stop offering Grad PLUS loans to new borrowers and will set new caps on how much graduate and professional students can borrow each year. For people heading into master’s, doctoral, medical, dental, and law programs, federal aid will no longer stretch to cover the full price of a degree.
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