Loan Limits and Affordability Calculator
Graduate students can borrow $20,500 a year and $100,000 in total in federal loans. Professional students can borrow $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total, under a $257,500 lifetime cap. Grad PLUS ended for new borrowers on July 1, 2026, so anything above those limits is now private borrowing. This calculator shows what federal loans cover for your program, what is left, and whether the payments fit the salary you can expect.
Step 1 of 3: Your program
- 1Your program
- 2Your funding
- 3Your payoff
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Federal student loan limits from July 1, 2026
Updated September 24, 2026
| Borrower | Per year | Total | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graduate students, most programs | $20,500 | $100,000 | P.L. 119-21 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) |
| Professional students | $50,000 | $200,000 | P.L. 119-21 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) |
| Lifetime cap, all federal student borrowing | Not applicable | $257,500 | Federal Student Aid, loan limits |
| Parent PLUS, per child | $20,000 | $65,000 | Federal Student Aid, PLUS loans |
How the CollegeLens Loan Limits and Affordability Calculator works
Costs come from federal college data (IPEDS) for the 2024-25 collection: program-level tuition and required fees where IPEDS prices the program, and the school's own published cost-of-attendance components for housing, food, books and other living costs. Where the American Association of Medical Colleges or the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine supplied a tuition figure, the page credits them inline; those figures are cite-only. Any line a school does not report is left empty for you to fill in, never guessed.
Salaries come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: the 10th percentile, the median and the 90th percentile for the occupation your program leads to. You can replace the salary with your own figure.
Rates are the 2026-27 award-year federal rates (8.07% on graduate Direct Unsubsidized loans) and a representative private rate of 8.5%. Both payment estimates include the interest that builds up while you are enrolled.
The rating is the monthly payment as a share of gross monthly income: under 10% Comfortable, 10% to under 15% Manageable, 15% to under 20% Stretch, 20% or more Heavy. How we rate affordability.
A worked example: Veterinary Medicine (DVM) at University of California, Davis
Out-of-state, 4 years, no grants and no family help, at $68,000 a year.
| Total cost | $272,000 |
|---|---|
| Federal loans cover | $200,000 |
| Gap to fill | $72,000 |
| Standard 10-year payment | $4,075 a month |
| Repayment Assistance Plan | $2,175 a month |
| Affordability rating | Heavy |
On a standard plan the payment takes about 38% of the $130,100 median for veterinarians (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025), which is why this estimate rates Heavy.
Questions families ask
- How much can graduate students borrow in federal loans in 2026?
- Graduate students in most programs can borrow $20,500 a year and $100,000 in total from Direct Unsubsidized loans. Students in a professional program can borrow $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total. Both sit under a lifetime cap of $257,500 across undergraduate and graduate borrowing. These limits took effect on July 1, 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
- Did Grad PLUS end, and who can still get it?
- Grad PLUS ended for new borrowers on July 1, 2026. A student is grandfathered only if they held an active Grad PLUS or graduate Direct Unsubsidized loan in the 2025-26 award year with an award end date on or after April 1, 2026, matched on the same school, the same program CIP code and the same credential level. Those students keep the old limits for up to three award years, 2026-27 through 2028-29, and only while they stay continuously enrolled in that same program. Eligibility ends early if they withdraw, stop attending or finish the program.
- Which degrees count as professional for the $50,000 limit?
- The higher limit applies to programs leading to a professional degree: Medicine (MD), Law (JD), Dentistry (DDS/DMD), Pharmacy (PharmD), Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Optometry (OD), Osteopathic Medicine (DO), Podiatry (DPM), Chiropractic (DC), Clinical Psychology (PsyD), Theology (MDiv/ThD). Every other graduate program, including most master's degrees and research doctorates, uses the $20,500 annual limit. Your school's financial aid office confirms which category your program falls in, because the classification follows the program, not the field name.
- How do I cover the gap between federal loans and my cost of attendance?
- Start with money you do not repay: scholarships for your field, an appeal to the aid office if your circumstances have changed, and any employer or service-obligation programs your profession offers. What is left is usually a private student loan, which is credit-based and priced on your score and your cosigner. Compare several lenders before you apply, because the rate is the whole difference on a balance this size. Parent PLUS is not an option for graduate or professional students; it is a parent loan for an undergraduate.
- How is the RAP payment calculated?
- The Repayment Assistance Plan takes a percentage of your whole adjusted gross income, on a sliding scale from 1% at $10,001 up to 10% above $100,000, divided by 12. It then subtracts $50 a month for each dependent on your tax return, with a floor of $10 a month. Interest your payment does not cover is waived rather than added to the balance, and if a payment reduces principal by less than $50 the Department adds a matching principal payment. The remaining balance is forgiven after 360 qualifying monthly payments. RAP applies to federal Direct loans only; Parent PLUS loans are not eligible and private loans never are.
- What is a manageable student loan payment compared with income?
- CollegeLens rates a payment against gross monthly income in four bands: under 10% is Comfortable, 10% to under 15% is Manageable, 15% to under 20% is Stretch, and 20% or more is Heavy. The payment counts federal and private loans together, on a standard 10-year plan. These bands sit below the debt-to-income limits a lender would use, because a lender is asking whether you will repay and this is asking whether the rest of your life still fits around the payment.
- Do I need an account to use this calculator?
- No. The calculator is free and works without signing in. A free account lets you save estimates, compare programs and share them.
Related tools and guides
Tools
Guides
- Grad PLUS Is Gone: What Graduate Students Borrowing After July 1, 2026 Need to Know
- Choosing Between the Tiered Standard Plan and RAP: A Decision Framework
- Grad PLUS vs. Direct Unsubsidized Loans: Which to Use (2026)
- Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAPs): How They Work in 2026
- How to Compare Private Student Loan Lenders (2026)