Financial Aid Changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Financial Aid Changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are effective July 1, 2026.
This information is current as of July 18, 2025, and the website will be updated as additional information becomes available.
Graduate and Professional students may wish to borrow at least a minimal amount of Grad PLUS loan funds (such as $1000) during the 2025-26 academic year to be considered a legacy borrower and protect future eligibility.
Please email finaid@unmc.edu if you have questions regarding the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
A summary of changes is provided below.
- Parent PLUS loans will be capped at $20,000/academic year per dependent student for new borrowers as of July 1, 2026, and the maximum amount per dependent student will be $65,000.
- Prevents students with a Student Aid Index (SAI) more than double the maximum Pell Grant award amount from being Pell eligible.
- Reinstates the exemptions for family farm and family-owned small business assets from the SAI calculation.
- Annual and maximum loan limits remain the same
- Annual loan limit is $20,500 per academic year
- Maximum graduate loan level borrowing is $100,000
- Annual loan limit is $50,000 per academic year
- Maximum graduate and professional loan debt is $200,000
- Maximum undergraduate, graduate, and professional federal student loan limit is $257,500
*The Department of Education has established that Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy are professional programs. With future updates, additional guidance will be provided to schools on the required definition of what constitutes a graduate level program vs. a professional level program.
There will be 2 federal student loan repayment plans for borrowers with a loan on or after July 1, 2026.
- The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) will be the new income-based repayment plan for borrowers.
- Standard Repayment will offer 4 fixed terms of 10, 15, 20 or 25 years based on loan debt.
- More information on both repayment plans will be forthcoming from the Department of Education.