Grad PLUS loans ended for new borrowers on July 1, 2026. The debate over that change usually happens in the abstract, with big numbers and big claims on both sides. But the Department of Education's own survey data shows exactly who used Grad PLUS, how much they borrowed, and by extension, who feels the new caps most.
The best national snapshot we have is the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20), a Department of Education study covering 3.6 million graduate students in the 2019-20 year. It's the most recent complete national picture of graduate borrowing. Put its numbers next to the new loan limits and a clear story emerges: Grad PLUS was never really a master's degree program. It was a professional school program, and that's where the squeeze will be tightest.
Here's what the data shows, and what it means if you're heading to grad school this fall or planning for it.
First, the New Rules
As of July 1, 2026, new graduate borrowers face hard federal limits:
- Master's and most doctoral students: $20,500 per year in Direct Unsubsidized Loans, with a $100,000 lifetime graduate cap.
- Professional degree students (medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, and the programs on the professional list): $50,000 per year, with a $200,000 lifetime cap.
- Grad PLUS: eliminated for new borrowers. Students already borrowing under the old rules are grandfathered for up to three years.
- Everything combined: a $257,500 lifetime cap across all federal student loans.
Before this change, Grad PLUS let graduate students borrow up to their school's full cost of attendance, with no dollar cap. So the real question is: how much of that open-ended borrowing was actually happening?
What the Federal Data Shows
Most grad students never touched Grad PLUS
Across all graduate students in 2019-20, just 11% took out a Grad PLUS loan. By comparison, 39% used Direct Unsubsidized Loans and 43% received grants. For the typical master's student, Grad PLUS was a side door, not the main entrance: only 7.9% of master's students borrowed through it.
Professional students were the real Grad PLUS users
The program breakdown is where the data gets striking. Among doctoral students in professional practice programs, meaning fields like medicine, dentistry, law, and pharmacy, 39.6% took out Grad PLUS loans. That's five times the master's rate. Research doctorate students, who often have funded positions, barely used it at all (4.1%).
Professional students also borrowed the most across the board: 71.6% took out some kind of student loan in 2019-20, averaging $45,600 in loans in that single year.
The average Grad PLUS loan was about $25,000 a year
Among students who used Grad PLUS, the average annual amount was $25,100. By program, the averages were $22,500 for master's students, $27,300 for doctoral-professional practice students, and $23,700 for other doctoral programs like many EdD degrees. Remember, these are per-year figures. A professional student borrowing at that pace stacks it on top of unsubsidized loans, year after year.
Now Line That Up Against the New Caps
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Graduate
College Ave
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College Ave's student loan products are made available through Firstrust Bank, member FDIC, First Citizens Community Bank, member FDIC, or BTG Pactual Bank, N.A., member FDIC. All loans are subject to individual approval and adherence to underwriting guidelines. Program restrictions, other terms, and conditions apply. (1) All rates include the auto-pay discount. The 0.25% auto-pay interest rate reduction applies as long as a valid bank account is designated for required monthly payments. If a payment is returned, you will lose this benefit. Variable rates may increase after consummation. (2) As certified by your school and less any other financial aid you might receive. Minimum $1,000. (3) This informational repayment example uses typical loan terms for a freshman borrower who selects the Deferred Repayment Option with a 10-year repayment term, has a $10,000 loan that is disbursed in one disbursement and a 8.35% fixed Annual Percentage Rate (APR): 120 monthly payments of $179.18 while in the repayment period, for a total amount of payments of $21,501.54. Loans will never have a full principal and interest monthly payment of less than $50. Your actual rates and repayment terms may vary. Information advertised valid as of 8/18/2026. Variable interest rates may increase after consummation. Approved interest rate will depend on creditworthiness of the applicant(s), lowest advertised rates only available to the most creditworthy applicants and require selection of the Flat Repayment Option with the shortest available loan term.
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Graduate
Sallie Mae
Best for: Undergraduate and graduate students, and parents, comparing competitive fixed- and variable-rate private student loans
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1.95% - 14.99% fixed APR, 3.62% - 14.35% variable APR
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Graduate School Loan: Examples of typical transactions for a $10,000 Graduate School Loan with the most common fixed rate, Fixed Repayment Option, two disbursements, a 2-year in-school period, and a 6-month grace: For a borrower with the shortest loan term, it works out to 14.69% fixed APR, 27 payments of $25.00, 119 payments of $204.84 and one payment of $83.82, for a total loan cost of $25,134.78. For a borrower with the longest loan term, it works out to 14.78% fixed APR, 27 payments of $25.00, 178 payments of $178.22 and one payment of $98.65, for a total loan cost of $32,496.81. Loans that are subject to a $50 minimum principal and interest payment amount may receive a loan term that is less than 10 years. A variable APR may increase over the life of the loan. A fixed APR will not. Information advertised valid as of 08/17/2026. Rates: Advertised APRs for undergraduate students assume a $10,000 loan with a 4-year in-school period, a 6-month grace, and the longest loan term offered. Interest rates for variable rate loans may increase or decrease over the life of the loan based on changes to the 30-day Average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) rounded up to the nearest one-eighth of one percent. Advertised variable rates are the starting range of rates and may vary outside of that range over the life of the loan. Interest is charged starting when funds are sent to the school. With the Fixed and Deferred Repayment Options, the interest rate is higher than with the Interest Repayment Option and Unpaid Interest is added to the loan's Current Principal at the end of the grace/separation period. To receive a 0.25 percentage point interest rate discount, the borrower or cosigner must enroll in auto debit through Sallie Mae. The discount applies only during active repayment for as long as the Current Amount Due or Designated Amount is successfully withdrawn from the authorized bank account each month. It may be suspended during forbearance or deferment. Cosigner Release: Only the borrower may apply for cosigner release. To do so, they must first meet the age of majority in their state and provide proof of graduation (or completion of certification program), income, and U.S. citizenship or permanent residency (if their status has changed since they applied). In the last 12 months, the borrower can't have been past due on any loans serviced by Sallie Mae for 30 or more days or enrolled in any hardship forbearances or modified repayment programs. In addition, the borrower must have paid ahead or made 12 on-time principal and interest payments on each loan requested for release. The loan can't be past due when the cosigner release application is processed. The borrower must also demonstrate the ability to assume full responsibility of the loan(s) individually and pass a credit review when the cosigner release application is processed that demonstrates a satisfactory credit history including but not limited to no: bankruptcy, foreclosure, student loan(s) in default or 90-day delinquencies in the last 24 months. Requirements are subject to change.
- Rank #3
Graduate
Earnest
Best for: Borrowers who want a zero-fee¹ lender with flexible repayment options² across undergrad, grad, and professional school programs
- 0.25% Auto Pay³ discount plus 0.25% Loyalty⁴ discount for eligible returning borrowers
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Earnest Private Student Loans are subject to credit approval. ¹Earnest does not charge fees for origination, late payments, returned check, or prepayments. Florida Stamp Tax: For Florida residents, Florida documentary stamp tax is required by law, calculated as $0.35 for each $100 (or portion thereof) of the principal loan amount, the amount of which is provided in the Final Disclosure. Lender will add the stamp tax to the principal loan amount. The full amount will be paid directly to the Florida Department of Revenue. Certificate of Registration No. 78-8016373916-1. ²Repayment terms and repayment options available vary based on loan type. ³You can take advantage of the Auto Pay interest rate reduction by setting up and maintaining active and automatic ACH withdrawal of your loan payment from a checking or savings account. The interest rate reduction for Auto Pay will be available only while your loan is enrolled in Auto Pay. Interest rate incentives for utilizing Auto Pay may not be combined with certain private student loan repayment programs that also offer an interest rate reduction. It is important to note that the 0.25% Auto Pay discount is not available when loan payments are deferred during the interim period as a result of selecting the deferred repayment option. ⁴To be eligible for the Loyalty Discount, applicants must have previously obtained an Earnest Private Student Loan and apply using the same email address associated with that loan. Only one Loyalty Discount may be applied per eligible Earnest Private Student Loan. Not all applicants may qualify. This offer cannot be combined with Earnest’s Rate Match program. Earnest may modify or discontinue this offer at any time and without notice, however, once a Loyalty Discount is earned, it will not be taken away. ⁵Residents of Hawaii must request a loan of at least $1,501. ⁶Available interest rates are subject to change. Interest rates as of 03/19/2026. Earnest’s Loan Cost Examples: 1.) These examples provide estimates based on principal and interest payments beginning immediately upon loan disbursement. Variable annual percentage rate ("APR"): A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $152.84) and a 16.85% interest rate without Auto Pay (16.85% APR) would result in a total estimated payment amount of $27,511.20. For a variable loan, after your starting rate is set, your rate will then vary with the market. Fixed APR: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $150.30) and a 16.49% interest rate without Auto Pay (16.49% APR) would result in a total estimated payment amount of $27,054.10. 2.) These examples provide estimates based on interest-only payments while in school. Variable interest rate: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $152.84) and a 16.85% interest rate without Auto Pay (16.85% APR) would result in a total estimated payment amount of $35,515.14. For a variable loan, after your starting rate is set, your rate will then vary with the market. Your actual repayment terms may vary. Other repayment options are available. The calculation assumes that the “in-school” period is 4 years (48 months) and includes our 9 month grace period, during which the monthly payment will be $140.42 for 57 months. Fixed interest rate: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $150.30) and a 16.49% interest rate without Auto Pay (16.49% APR) would result in a total estimated payment amount of $34,886.94. Your actual repayment terms may vary. Other repayment options are available. The calculation assumes that the “in-school” period is 4 years (48 months) and includes our 9 month grace period, during which the monthly payment will be $137.42 for 57 months. 3.) These examples provide estimates based on fixed $25 payments while in school. Variable interest rate: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $253.39) and a 16.85% interest rate without Auto Pay (14.92% APR) would result in a total estimated payment amount of $47,035.20. For a variable loan, after your starting rate is set, your rate will then vary with the market. Fixed interest rate: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $246.61) and a 16.49% interest rate without Auto Pay (14.65% APR) would result in a total estimated payment amount of $45,814.80. Your actual repayment terms may vary. Other repayment options are available. The calculation assumes that the “in-school” period is 4 years (48 months) and includes our 9 month grace period, during which the monthly payment will be $25.00. 4.) These examples provide estimates based on deferred payments. Variable interest rate: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $275.17) and a 16.85% interest rate without Auto Pay (14.67% APR) would result in a total estimated payment amount of $49,530.60. For a variable loan, after your starting rate is set, your rate will then vary with the market. Fixed interest rate: A $10,000 loan with a 15-year term (180 monthly payments of $268.03) and a 16.49% interest rate without Auto Pay (14.39% APR) would result in a total estimated payment amount of $48,245.40. Your actual repayment terms may vary. Other repayment options are available. It is important to note that the 0.25% Auto Pay discount is not available when the deferred repayment option has been selected and the loan is in the interim period. The calculation assumes that the “in-school” period is 4 years (48 months) and includes our 9 month grace period, during which the monthly payment will be $0. ⁷Nine-month grace period is not available for borrowers who choose our Principal and Interest Repayment plan while in school. ⁸To qualify for automatic cosigner release, the outstanding principal balance of your loan must be paid down to 50% or less of the original principal balance. The primary borrower must have made 36 months of required payments after the end of the Interim Period. The primary borrower must meet our eligibility and minimum credit requirements. Additional terms and conditions may apply. To request cosigner release, the primary borrower must have made 12 consecutive, monthly on-time principal and interest payments (or an amount equal thereto) immediately preceding the cosigner release application. The primary borrower must satisfy certain eligibility and credit criteria at the time of application. Additional terms and conditions may apply. ⁹Includes 0.50% combined Auto Pay and Loyalty discounts. Actual rate and available repayment terms will vary based on your financial profile. Fixed annual percentage rates (APR) range from 2.79% to 16.74% (2.29% - 16.24% with Auto Pay and Loyalty discounts). Variable annual percentage rates (APR) range from 5.24% to 17.1% (4.74% - 16.6% with Auto Pay and Loyalty discounts). Earnest variable interest rate student loans are based on a publicly available index, the 30-day Average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The variable rate is based on the rate published on the 25th day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a percent plus a margin and will change on the 1st of each month. The rate will not increase more than once a month, but there is no limit on the amount that the rate could increase at one time. Our lowest rates are only available for our most credit qualified existing cosigned loan borrowers who receive the 0.25% Loyalty discount and requires selection of our shortest term offered, full principal and interest payment while in school, and enrollment in our 0.25% Auto Pay discount. Enrolling in Auto Pay is not required as a condition for approval. Interest rates are subject to change. Earnest Private Student Loans are made by FinWise Bank, Member FDIC. FinWise Bank, 756 East Winchester, Suite 100, Murray, UT 84107. Earnest student loans are serviced by Earnest Operations LLC, 300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 340, Oakland, CA 94612. NMLS #1204917, with support from Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri (MOHELA) (NMLS# 1442770). FinWise Bank and Earnest LLC and its subsidiaries, including Earnest Operations LLC, are not sponsored by agencies of the United States of America. © 2026 Earnest LLC. All rights reserved.
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This is where the data turns into practical guidance. The impact depends almost entirely on which program you're in.
Master's students: a smaller cliff than the headlines suggest
The new $20,500 annual limit for master's students isn't new. It's the same unsubsidized limit that existed before. What disappeared is the Grad PLUS layer on top. The data says about 8% of master's students used that layer, borrowing an average of $22,500 per year. For a two-year program, that's roughly $45,000 of federal borrowing capacity that no longer exists.
If you're in the other 92%, the new rules may change nothing about your plan. If you were counting on PLUS to cover a high-cost master's program, you now need a different plan for the gap: savings, employer tuition benefits, a cheaper program, or private loans, which we've compared for graduate students here.
Professional students: the caps bind hard
Run the numbers for the average professional-practice borrower. At $45,600 in total loans per year, a four-year program adds up to about $182,400. That's already brushing against the new $200,000 lifetime professional cap, and it's just the average. Students at high-cost private programs routinely borrowed well above it under Grad PLUS, because the old rules allowed borrowing to the full cost of attendance.
Under the new rules, a professional student can borrow at most $50,000 per year and $200,000 total. For many medical and dental students, that won't cover full cost of attendance at a large share of schools. The gap has to come from somewhere: institutional aid, service-commitment programs like HPSP or NHSC, state loan programs, private loans, or choosing a lower-cost school. This is the single biggest planning change for pre-med and pre-law families, and it makes cost a bigger factor in choosing where to apply than it has been in decades.
One more wrinkle: which programs count as "professional" (and get the $50,000/$200,000 limits instead of $20,500/$100,000) has been fought over in court. If you're in nursing, PT, or another borderline field, read our post on the professional degree list and what the court ruling means.
Doctoral students outside the professional list: watch the fine print
About 1 in 5 students in "other doctoral" programs, a category that includes many education and applied doctorates, used Grad PLUS, averaging $23,700 a year. Most of these programs did not make the professional list, which means their students now face the $20,500 annual master's-level cap. If you're planning an EdD, PsyD, or similar degree, confirm your program's classification before you count on federal loans, because the difference between the two tiers is $29,500 per year.
One number worth sitting with
In the federal data, Grad PLUS use was highest among the lowest-income graduate students. Nearly 20% of those earning under $10,000 borrowed through the program, compared to under 4% of those earning $100,000 or more. Whatever you think of the policy change, the borrowers replacing Grad PLUS dollars with private credit will disproportionately be the ones with the thinnest financial cushion, and private lenders price by credit. If that's your situation, exhaust grants, assistantships, and employer benefits before borrowing privately.
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What to Do With This Information
- Know your tier before you apply. Master's and non-professional doctoral programs get $20,500 a year; professional programs get $50,000. Confirm which one your program is.
- Budget the whole degree, not one year. The lifetime caps ($100,000 and $200,000) are the real constraint for multi-year programs. Multiply your expected annual borrowing by your program length and compare.
- Treat the gap as a known cost. If your program's cost of attendance exceeds your federal limits, the difference is now a planning item, not a surprise. Our guide on how to pay for grad school after Grad PLUS walks through the options in order of preference.
- Plan repayment before you borrow. New borrowers get two repayment options: the standard plan and RAP. Estimate your RAP payment at your expected starting salary before you commit to a borrowing number.
- Compare programs by net cost. With borrowing capped, the price difference between schools matters more than ever. Create your free CollegeLens plan to compare real costs and map your funding before you commit.
The Bottom Line
The federal government's own data shows Grad PLUS was concentrated exactly where the new caps bite hardest: professional programs, where 4 in 10 students used it and total borrowing averaged $45,600 a year. Master's students, the majority of grad borrowers, mostly never used it. If you're planning a professional degree, the new $200,000 lifetime cap is now one of the most important numbers in your college math. If you're planning a master's, your federal picture likely looks the same as before, just with no safety valve above $20,500 a year.
Either way, you can no longer borrow whatever a program costs. The families who plan around that early, by comparing programs on cost, mapping every year of borrowing, and lining up alternatives for any gap, will be the ones this change hurts least.
A note on the data: figures come from NPSAS:20, which covers the 2019-20 academic year, the most recent completed national study of how students pay for school. Dollar figures are per-year averages among students who actually borrowed, not all students.
Related on CollegeLens
- Best Private Student Loans for Graduate Students
- Earnest Student Loan Review 2026
- Private Student Loans Without a Cosigner: Your Options
Sravani at CollegeLens
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