Financial aid updates from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)
The OBBBA introduces a number of changes to financial aid that affect both undergraduate and graduate students. Changes include limits and requirements for federal loans, repayment options for new and current borrowers, and Pell eligibility calculations. The Office of Financial Aid is closely monitoring the changes and their implementation. They will continue to update this resource as information becomes available. The information below is based on current information provided to financial aid administrators.
Updates from the Department of Education can be found here.
Student Aid Index (SAI) and Pell Eligibility
Beginning with the 2026-27 FAFSA and it’s October 1, 2025 launch, there are a few changes that have been made to the SAI and Pell calculations from the OBBBA.
Starting in 2026-27, an applicant with an SAI equal to or greater than twice the maximum Pell Grant award amount for the award year are ineligible for a Pell Grant. For the 2026–27 award year, this threshold is $14,790.
The OBBBA also updated the Student Aid Index (SAI) asset calculation to exclude, the following from current net worth of business and farms and should not be reported as assets on the FAFSA form:
- The net worth of a family-owned business with 100 or fewer full-time (or full-time equivalent) employees.
- The net worth of a farms on which the family resides.
- The net worth of a commercial fishing business and related expenses, owned and controlled by a family.
Proration of Loans Based on Enrollment
Students who enroll less than full-time will only be able to borrow loan amounts in direct proportion to their enrollment status. Full-time status for undergraduate students is 12 credits and for graduate students is 9 credits. Students will still need to meet at least part-time enrollment to qualify for federal loans.
Parent PLUS Loan
The OBBA has also made changes to the Parent PLUS loan. Starting July 1, 2026, the Parent PLUS loan will be capped each year at $20,000 per year per dependent student. There will also be a aggregate limit of $65,000 per dependent student. The aggregate limit is without regard to amounts forgiven, repaid, canceled, or discharged. This means that the limit counts everything ever borrowed, even if a portion was paid back or forgiven.
Legacy Provision: If a parent has a Parent PLUS loan made before July 1, 2026, while the dependent student is enrolled in a program of study, the parent can continue to borrow under current loan limits for 3 academic years or the remainder of their dependent student’s expected time to complete their degree, whichever is less.
New Graduate/Professional Annual & Aggregate Loan Limits
Students who have not received a Direct Unsubsidized Loan disbursement before July 1, 2026, will be subject to the following new Direct Unsubsidized Loan limits:
- Graduate Students: $20,500 annual; $100,000 aggregate (i.e MBA, PA, OT, PT, etc.)
- Professional Students: $50,000 annual; $200,000 aggregate (Pharmacy)
- Borrowers who are both graduate and professional students at some point in their educational careers may only borrow up to $200,000 in total for graduate and professional school
Legacy Provision: If a student has a Direct Unsubsidized Loan disbursed before July 1, 2026, while enrolled in a credentialed program of study, the student can continue to borrow under the current loan limits for 3 academic years or until the end of their program of study, whichever comes first.
Graduate PLUS Loan
The Graduate PLUS loan, for new borrowers who begin their program on or after July 1, 2026, has been eliminated.
Legacy Provisions: If a student has a Federal Direct loan made before July 1, 2026, while enrolled in a program of study, the borrower can continue to borrow from the Graduate PLUS program for the remainder of their expected time to complete their degree with a maximum of 3 academic years, whichever is less.
Repayment Plans
The Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is the new federal student loan program that calculates your monthly payment as a percentage of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).
- If married filing separately, spouse’s AGI and number of dependents are not included in the payment calculation
- $10 minimum payment
- Monthly payment is 1-10% of income based on AGI
- $50 off monthly payment (base payment) per dependent
- 30-year repayment period
- Eliminates negative amortization
- No cap on monthly payment, even if it’s higher than the standard repayment plan would be
- If a borrower makes an on-time payment that reduces their principal by less than $50, ED will make a payment to the principal, up to the amount paid, minus what was applied to the principal or $50, whichever is less.
- After all current borrowers move out of all other current Income-Driven Repayment plans or Standard plans, the current plans will be sunset.
The bill creates a new standard plan with a fixed monthly repayment amount paid over 4 fixed terms of 10, 15, 20, or 25 years based on the amount borrowed (or outstanding balance if in repayment).
Current Borrowers with no new loans made on or after July 1, 2026 are eligible to enroll in the current Standard, Graduated, Extended, or current Income Based (IBR) repayment plans, and may also opt into the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). Current Borrowers may also switch between, enter, or remain on existing IDR plans until July 1, 2028.
New Borrowers with new loans made on or after July 1, 2026 can be repaid using only two plans: a new standard repayment plan and the new income-based repayment plan, RAP
All new Parent PLUS loans from July 1, 2026, on must be repaid under the standard repayment plan and are not eligible for RAP. If a borrower chooses RAP but has a loan that is not eligible for RAP (like Parent PLUS and certain consolidated loans) they must repay the ineligible loan(s) separately.
For any questions, please reach out to the Office of Financial Aid at finaid@su.edu.