For current and prospective graduate students, and professional school students, here are some points to consider about the impacts of the H.R.1 Bill on your future financial aid planning.
What should graduate and professional students know about loan changes under H.R.1?
As of July 1, 2026, the amount that graduate and professional students can borrow, the types of loans available, and their repayment options after graduation all changed from previous years. For details about loan limits and loans available, read the following sections. An overview of these changes and information about repayment details are available on the Federal Updates page.
Enrollment-based loan limits
Beginning with the 2026–2027 academic year, annual federal student loan amounts will be determined by a student’s level of enrollment (the number of units you complete). This policy is referred to as the Schedule of Reduction for Loans.
Schedule of Reduction for Loans (SOR): For all students at any level of higher education, annual federal student loan amounts will be based on your unit load for the entire academic year. All federal loans for student borrowers will be prorated based on enrollment level.
How is enrollment level determined? Your level of enrollment is based on your units for the entire academic year. For UC Berkeley, your annual unit load is determined by fall and spring semester enrollment.
What is considered full-time enrollment under the new law? Full-time enrollment for financial aid purposes is defined for most students as 24 units during the academic year, or 12 units per semester. This varies by program for some graduate programs.
How do enrollment limits impact students enrolled part-time? For student borrowers who are enrolled less than full time, your federal student loan amounts will be reduced, and you will only be able to borrow loan amounts in direct proportion to your unit load. The process that determines how much you can borrow if you are enrolled less than full time is called loan proration.
What is the minimum enrollment level for federal student loans? To qualify for prorated federal student loans, there is a minimum half-time enrollment requirement, which for most students is 6 units per semester.
Enroll full time, and stay enrolled full time: The best way to ensure your maximum amount of federal loan eligibility is to enroll full time, and stay enrolled full time. Read additional information about enrollment impacts and answers to commonly asked questions on our Federal Updates page.
Loan limits: Borrowing cap changes
Beginning with the 2026–27 academic year, annual graduate loan limits will be capped for graduate students and professional students. New students who anticipate needing funding in excess of the new annual federal unsubsidized student loan limits will need to explore other financing options to help fund their studies.
What are the new annual borrowing limits for graduate and professional students?
The H.R.1 Bill created a distinction between graduate and professional degree programs for Direct Unsubsidized loan limits.
Standard graduate students: Typically, the annual federal student loan borrowing limit is capped at $20,500.
Professional programs (e.g., Law, Optometry): These programs may allow for higher annual federal student loan limits (up to $50,000), which the school adjusts manually based on federal guidelines.
Aggregate (lifetime) limit for federal student loans:
- For non-professional graduate students, there is a $100,000 aggregate cap. For students enrolled in professional programs (Law and Optometry), there is a $200,000 aggregate cap.
- Students have an aggregate cap of $257,500. This includes all prior federal Direct Loans from both undergraduate and previous graduate studies.
Current students with a Graduate PLUS Loan
The H.R.1 Bill eliminates the Graduate PLUS program for new borrowers. There are legacy provisions for current Graduate PLUS loan borrowers to complete their program of study.
What are legacy provisions? Legacy provisions allow certain current students who were already using federal loans before the new regulations took effect to maintain their previous loan eligibility. These provisions generally last for up to three additional academic years or until the end of the program, whichever is sooner.
Do I qualify for legacy provisions for Graduate PLUS Loans? To qualify under the legacy provisions, current graduate students must:
- Have been enrolled in the program before July 1, 2026,
- Received any disbursement of a federal student loan (Unsubsidized or Graduate PLUS) for that same program of study before July 1, 2026,
- Continue in that program after July 1, 2026, without exceeding the published program length, and
- Complete your degree within the program’s standard scheduled length based on full-time enrollment (time to credential).
For students beginning a program in Fall 2026, you would generally not qualify for legacy provisions, because the loan would have had to disburse before the July 1, 2026 cutoff.
Definition of professional degrees eligible for higher loan limits
The status of professional degrees eligible for higher student loan limits is currently in legal flux and remains a heavily contested issue. On June 24, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia preliminarily stayed part of the U.S. Department of Education’s professional degree definition. This means that some of the programs that were identified as a professional degree program won’t be considered a professional degree program, while other programs that previously weren’t identified as a professional degree program will be considered a professional degree program for the duration of the stay.
- Under the new rule, a professional degree is defined as a credential that prepares students for licensed practice in specific, designated fields.
- Only new borrowers in fields of study that meet the definition of a professional program will have access to the new $50,000 Federal Direct Unsubsidized loan limits starting next year.
Who is considered a professional student under the H.R.1. Bill?
Students in the following programs are considered professional students for purposes of federal student loan limits*:
- Pharmacy (Pharm.D.)
- Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.)
- Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.)
- Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.)
- Law (LL.B. or J.D.)
- Medicine (M.D.)
- Optometry (O.D.)
- Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.)
- Podiatry (D.P.M., D.P., or Pod.D.)
- Theology (M.Div. or M.H.L.)
- Clinical Psychology (Psy.D. or Ph.D.)
*A court order has resulted in temporary changes to which programs are eligible for professional degree loan limits.
Loan repayment plan changes
New borrowers with federal student loans made on or after July 1, 2026, will have only two ways to repay the loans: through the new, income-based Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) or by using a new standard repayment plan with fixed monthly payments and fixed terms. This will affect both current and prospective students who take out new loans.
Legacy income-driven repayment (IDR) plans:
Students who borrowed federal loans prior to July 1, 2026 (and do not take out new loans after), can qualify for legacy income-driven repayment plans.
If you take out any new federal student loans or consolidate your existing loans on or after July 1, 2026, all of your federal loans will be subject to new rules. Once you do this, you will lose access to all legacy IDR plans and be limited to only two options: the Tiered Standard Plan and the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP).
Steps for managing graduate student loans
We encourage you to create a plan for covering your expenses beyond federal loan limits. This includes exploring other funding options such as scholarships and private loans.
Determine your legacy status and loan borrowing limits. The Department of Education has created an online resource to assist with this effort. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators created a flow-chart to assist graduate and professional students in understanding their loan borrowing limits for their program.
Check your current federal loan borrowing history. Log into studentaid.gov to view your current borrowing history to determine how much remaining eligibility you may have in the federal student loan programs.
Research support offered through the Graduate Division. Students can find resources related to fellowship awards, stipends, need or research-based grants, and academic student employment.
Research graduate-specific support through GRAPES. Another valuable resource for graduate students is the GRAPES database, hosted by UCLA. This database is open access and free for anyone to use to find potential awards for any graduate program.
Research private alternative loans. Private lenders vary in their interest rates, terms, and eligibility requirements. The University of California Office of the President has compiled a Private Loan Preferred Lender list, although you may choose any lender.
Review your credit report for accuracy. Private lenders are credit-based, and the terms and conditions of a private loan will be based on your credit history. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to access your credit report for free from each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can request your free credit report at: annualcreditreport.com.