Federal Student Loan Limits Calculator 2026-27
NewSee how much you can borrow after Grad PLUS was eliminated on July 1, 2026. Annual and lifetime caps for undergraduate, graduate, professional and Parent PLUS loans.
By Konstantin Iakovlev · Updated September 2026 · Source: Federal Student Aid — One Big Beautiful Bill Act definitions: loan limits and professional degrees
You Can Borrow This Year
$20,500.00
Remaining Under the Program Cap
$100,000.00
Unfunded Gap
$17,500.00
Limits Effective July 1, 2026
| Annual cap | $20,500.00 |
| Program aggregate cap | $100,000.00 |
| Lifetime federal cap | $257,500.00 |
| Already borrowed | $0.00 |
| Need after grants | $38,000.00 |
| Binding constraint | annual cap |
Federal loans no longer stretch to the full cost of attendance for this program. The gap of $17,500.00 has to come from savings, work, institutional aid, or private loans, which carry no income-driven repayment and no forgiveness.
Grad PLUS is gone, so this is the ceiling. Students who received a Direct or Grad PLUS loan before July 1, 2026 generally keep access to the old rules for up to three years while they finish the same program at the same school. Undergraduate limits were not changed by the 2026 reforms.
Use the Federal Student Loan Limits Calculator 2026-27 above to calculate your results. Enter your values and see instant results — all calculations run in your browser.
Disclaimer: This calculator is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, financial, or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the information you provide and current rates. Always consult a qualified tax professional or financial advisor for advice specific to your situation.
How It Works
On July 1, 2026 the federal student loan system stopped lending up to the cost of attendance for graduate and professional study. The Grad PLUS program, which let graduate students borrow whatever tuition and living costs required, was eliminated for new borrowers, and dollar caps took its place. The dollar limits for undergraduates did not change (annual limits are now prorated for less-than-full-time enrollment), which is why the disruption is concentrated in medical, law, dental and MBA programs.
Graduate programs are now capped at $20,500 a year and $100,000 in total. Programs that lead to a professional degree on the Department of Education's list, such as medicine, law, dentistry and pharmacy, get $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total; a federal court stayed part of that list on June 24, 2026, so ask the school whether a program currently counts. Parent PLUS, which also had no dollar ceiling before, is now limited to $20,000 a year and $65,000 in total per dependent student, and that is per student rather than per parent. Sitting above all of it is a new lifetime ceiling of $257,500 across all federal student loans, which excludes Parent PLUS because the parent rather than the student is the borrower.
Undergraduate limits are unchanged: $5,500, $6,500 and $7,500 for the first, second and third-or-later years for dependent students, with a $31,000 aggregate; $9,500, $10,500 and $12,500 for independent students, with a $57,500 aggregate. A dependent student whose parent is denied a Parent PLUS loan can borrow at the independent rates.
The gap this opens is real and it lands on specific programs. A four-year medical degree at a private school runs well past $200,000 in tuition alone, so the federal ceiling now covers a fraction of it. What fills the gap is institutional aid, family contribution, or private student loans — and private loans carry no income-driven repayment, no interest waiver and no Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and private lenders are not legally required to discharge them on death or disability. Students who received a Direct or Grad PLUS loan before July 1, 2026 generally keep access to the old rules for up to three years while finishing the same program at the same school, which makes continuous enrolment unusually valuable.
Example: first-year law student, $48,000 cost of attendance, $10,000 in scholarships
- 1 Step 1: Law (J.D.) is on the Department of Education's professional-degree list, so the annual cap is $50,000 and the aggregate is $200,000.
- 2 Step 2: Nothing has been borrowed yet, so the full $50,000 annual limit is available and the $257,500 lifetime ceiling is not binding.
- 3 Step 3: Need after scholarships is $48,000 − $10,000 = $38,000, which is inside the $50,000 annual cap. There is no gap this year.
- 4 Step 4: Project it forward. Three years at $38,000 is $114,000, comfortably inside the $200,000 aggregate — so this student is fine, and the caps would only bind at a more expensive school.
- 5 Step 5: The same arithmetic at a medical school costing $75,000 a year hits the $50,000 annual cap immediately, leaving $25,000 a year to be found elsewhere and exhausting the $200,000 aggregate in the fourth year.
Source: Federal Student Aid — One Big Beautiful Bill Act definitions: loan limits and professional degrees · Last updated: September 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Grad PLUS really eliminated?
How much can a graduate student borrow now?
What are the new Parent PLUS limits?
What is the $257,500 lifetime cap?
Did undergraduate loan limits change?
What fills the gap if federal loans are not enough?
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