No, these changes do not affect any aid disbursed before July 1, 2026. Changes to your enrollment, such as a leave of absence or interrupted enrollment, may affect your future eligibility.

A legacy student is a student who is currently enrolled and has retained pre-OB3 loan eligibility. To be a legacy student, you must:

• Be enrolled in a program of study as of June 30, 2026; 
• Receive a Direct Loan Disbursement for the same program of study prior to July 1, 2026;
• Remain enrolled in your current program of study; and
• Be within your expected time to credential

Undergraduate Legacy Students are:

• subject to the pre-OB3 Parent PLUS Loan rules that do not cap the annual or lifetime amounts for up the lesser of either 3 years, or their calculated expected time to credential

Graduate & Professional Legacy Students are:

• able to participate in the Graduate PLUS loan program for the lesser of 3 years, or their expected time to credential
• not subject to the OB3 aggregate loan limits

However, all students are subject to the Schedule of Reduction rules that require loans to be prorated if enrolled less than full-time.

"Expected time to credential" is defined as the published program length minus the semesters or credits enrolled in your program.

Legacy students retain their pre-OB3 eligibility for the lesser of:

• three years, or
• their published program length minus time enrolled

The Publised Program Length is defined as the minimum amount of weeks, months, or years required for a full-time student to complete a degree. For example:

• A standard undegraduate bachelor's degree has an expected time to credential of 4 years. 
• A standard master's degree has an expected time to credential of 2 years.

For example:

• If you are entering the 3rd year of your 4-year undergraduate program and you are eligible for the legacy provisions under OB3, then you retain your legacy status for 1 more year.
  • This also means that if you change your major and require additional time to complete your degree beyond the 4 years, you may lose your legacy status in the 5th year.
• If you are entering the 2nd year of your 2-year master's program, and you are eligible for the legacy provisions under OB3, then you are in the final year of your eligibility.

Transfer credits can affect your calculated expected time to credential, as can attending part-time.

The OB3 law requires annual loan amounts to be prorated in direct proportion to your enrollment status. This change is effective with all loans borrowed for the 2026-27 academic year. Your eligibility will be determined at the time of disbursement based on the number of credits a full-time student is expected to take for the academic year.

Students may not receive any more than 50% of their annual loan limit each semester. This means that if you did not borrow your loans in the Fall semester, you cannot then request the totality of those loans in the Spring semester. There are very few exceptions to this regulation.

No, but withdrawn credits do. Please see the examples further down.

A prorated student loan is an adjustment that reduces a your maximum federal loan amount. This happens if you attend school for only part of an academic year (such as graduating in December) or take a part-time course load instead of full-time enrollment.

For example, an undergraduate student who is enrolled for 7 credits in the fall semester would have their loans prorated. Since a full-time courseload is 12 credits, we divide the enrolled credits by the full-time amount, and multiply that against your loan eligibility.

7 enrolled credits [divided by] 12 full-time credits = 58% (rounded to the nearest whole number)

We then multiply the percentage against the semester loan amount.

$2,750 x 58% = $1,595

A student who would normally have $2,750 in federal loan eligibility (half of $5,500) can only receive $1,595 in loan funding at 7 credits.

There are no changes to how much federal loans an undergraduate student may borrow.

• Annual loan limit $5,500-$12,500 based on year in school and dependency status.
• Aggregate loan limit $31,000-$57,500 based on dependency status.

Yes, but starting in the 2026–27 academic year, new limits apply:

• Parents will be capped at $20,000 per year and $65,000 lifetime in PLUS borrowing per student.
• If both parents borrow on behalf of the same student, their combined borrowing is capped at $20,000 per year and $65,000 lifetime.

Legacy Provision for Parent Borrowers: If you already have Parent PLUS Loans, you are eligible to borrow under the previous loan limits for the remainder of your student’s program or three years, whichever is shorter. Your student must remain continuously enrolled in their current program. If they take a leave of absence or don’t complete a term, you will be considered a new borrower and subject to the new limits.

It depends.

If you are a legacy student, then yes, provided you have not already reached the independent-level threshold ($57,500) for undergraduate borrowing.

If you are not a legacy student, then it depends on whether or not your parent has already borrowed $65,000 in Parent PLUS loans. 

If they have not already borrowed $65,000 in total PLUS Loans, then yes, we can increase your unsubsidized loan.

If they have already borrowed $65,000, then unfortunately, no, we cannot increase your unsubsidized loan.

More information on the Parent PLUS loan and denials is on our website.

No. For an undergraduate student to borrow additional unsubsidized loan funds, the parent must be credit denied for the Parent PLUS Loan or otherwise ineligible to apply for the loan. Reaching the aggregate borrowing limit is not an exceptional circumstance.

If you lose your legacy status, your parent will be subject to the new limitations and all prior borrowed PLUS loans will count towards the $65,000 overall limit.

For example: if you have two years of legacy eligibility left, and your parent has borrowed $60,000 already, and then you lose your eligibility, your parent may only borrow an additional $5,000.

Yes. Starting in the 2026–27 academic year, students will no longer be eligible for a Pell Grant if their Student Aid Index (SAI) is greater than twice the maximum Pell award for that year. Pell award amounts will continue to vary based on income and family size, but there is now a firm cutoff tied to the annual Pell maximum.

Maximum Pell Grants for 2026-27 is $7,395, so students with a SAI of 14791 or higher are not eligible for Pell.

Nothing immediately, but there may be an impact in the next semester, depending on your enrollment.

Starting with the 2026–27 award year, which begins with Fall 2026, Direct Loan amounts for students who are not full-time for the full academic year will need to be adjusted. This is called a Schedule of Reduction, or SOR change. Full-time enrollment is determined by term and by the academic year, whereas, prior to this, the rules were limited to enrollment in a single term.

This adjustment is made at the next scheduled disbursement in the aid year. See this example: (individual scenarios and eligibility may vary)

• 1st year undergraduate student enrolls in 12 credits Fall and goes on to register for 12 credits Spring.
• Max Loan Limit: $5,500 unsub
• We disbursed $2,750 for Fall. The student later withdraws to 9 credits in the fall semester.
  • No adjustment is made for Fall.

• 9 earned credits in Fall + 12 registered credits in Spring = 21 annual credits
• Full-time is 12, so 24 credits is the full-time annual amount.
• 21 ÷ 24 credits = 88% (rounded to the nearest whole number)
  • This means you are enrolled for 88% of overall full-time. You can only have 88% of your loan
• 88% x $5,500 = $4,840
• $4,840 is the new annual loan amount.
• We have to account for the aid you received already in Fall.
  • $4,840 - $2,750 disbursed in fall = $2,090 new Spring eligibility

Nothing as long as you do not interrupt your enrollment. Changing undergraduate majors does not affect legacy status.

Grad PLUS Loans are being phased out under the new law.

New graduate and professional students will no longer be eligible to borrow Grad PLUS for terms that begin on or after July 1, 2026.

If you’re already borrowing Direct Loans before July 1, 2026, you may borrow Grad PLUS loans. You must be continuously enrolled in your current program of study and meet all other legacy requirements to remain eligible. If you take a leave of absence or go on academic pause, you will be considered a new borrower subject to the new loan limits. You will also be considered a new borrower if you temporarily stop attending your current program of study to enroll in and/or complete another program.

Starting in the 2026–27 academic year, new federal loan limits will apply to graduate and professional students:

• Graduate students will be limited to $20,500 per year in unsubsidized loans.
  • The new lifetime cap on graduate-level borrowing is $100,000
• Professional students (such as those in the MD program) will be limited to $50,000 per year in unsubsidized loans.
  • The new lifetime cap on professional-level borrowing is $200,000

If you borrowed before July 1, 2026 and are enrolled in the same program of study, you remain eligible for the previous loan limits. Changing your program or interrupting your enrollment will affect your eligibility.

The distinction between “graduate” and “professional” programs is defined in federal regulation and affects how much you can borrow each year. Professional programs are typically those that signify completion of academic requirements for beginning work or practice in a given profession, are generally at the doctoral level, and lead directly to a degree required for licensure in a recognized profession, such as medicine (MD). The federal regulations include the following programs in the definition:

• Pharmacy (Pharm.D.);
• Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.);
• Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.);
• Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.);
• Law (L.L.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.); and
• Clinical Psychology (Psy.D. or Ph.D.)

All other post-baccalaureate programs—including most master’s and PhD programs—are classified as graduate.

No, students who are enrolled in preparatory coursework do not qualify for the legacy borrowing provisions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and would be treated as new borrowers.

Your enrollment is reviewed at the time of disbursement to confirm eligibility. Your loan eligibility will be reviewed and adjustment proportionate to your enrollment. See the following example:

This example assumed 9 credits' enrollment in Fall (full-time) and 6 in Spring (part-time). Please keep in mind that this adjustments are made at the start of term.

• Full-time Enrollment is 9 credits per semester, or 18 annual credits (fall + spring)
• 15 enrolled / 18 potential full-time = 83%, rounded to the nearest whole number
  • This means you are enrolled for 83% of overall full-time. You can only have 83% of your federal loan.
• We then calculate your Maximum Unsubsidized Loan Amount: 83% x $20,500 = $17,015
• That amount is then broken down by your enrollment:
  • Fall (full-time) = $10,250
  • Spring (part-time) = $6,765

Keep in mind that the federal loans carry an origination fee, so the net funds paid to your account will be slightly less than what is accepted.

A change of graduate program is likely to revoke your legacy status. You can change your concentration, but not your program.

For example, if you are working on an MBA and swich to an MPH program, that change will result in the loss of your legacy status. You will be subject to the new annual loan limit and ineligible for future Graduate PLUS loans.