The July 1 deadline is quickly approaching and there are some notable changes to how federal student loans are issued and repaid, under the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

Nearly 4 million student loan borrowers live in Texas, with their total debt accounting for $132 billion of the more than $1.7 trillion total student loan debt in the United States, according to data from the Education Data Initiative. 

Delays in issuing of official rules, FAQs and clear information, have students and financial aid officials across San Antonio scrambling to adjust to the impending changes. 

Here’s a summary of the changes that will impact undergraduates, graduate students, as well as working professionals trying to repay their loans next month:

Loan Limits

The federal government will phase out the Graduate PLUS, or Direct PLUS Loan, which allowed eligible graduate or professional students to acquire federal loans for the full cost of their education. With the end of this option come new annual loan limits, as well as lifetime borrowing caps. 

Undergraduate students have a lifetime maximum loan limit of $257,500,  including the total amount received — paid or unpaid — on all subsidized and unsubsidized loans over the course of their undergraduate studies.

Students enrolled less than full time, or those who drop classes along the way, will see their loan disbursement adjusted or prorated to reflect the course load.

Loan limits for graduate students will depend on the degree program they are enrolled in and the federal designation of that program.

Degree Designations

Starting July 1, the Department of Education will start to enforce a designation of professional degrees, or graduate degrees, for the purposes of borrowing. 

A professional degree requires the completion of the academic requirements before anyone can practice, according to the federal guidelines. 

The eleven professional degrees designated as such at the federal level will have higher borrowing caps of $50,000 annually and an aggregate lifetime cap of $200,000. 

All other graduate degrees will have an annual borrowing cap of $20,000 and a lifetime cap of $100,000. 

All previous borrowing will affect the borrower’s lifetime cap, unless they qualify for an exemption. 

Exemptions

Students who are receiving loans through the Graduate PLUS program may be allowed to continue if they meet certain criteria including:

  • Having been enrolled in your current program as of June 30, 2026. 
  • Having received at least one Grad PLUS loan for your current program of study prior to July 1, 2026. 
  • Being currently enrolled at the same institution and under the same program with no gaps in enrollment. 

Repayment plans

The Trump administration is doing away with the Biden-era SAVE Plan, or Saving on a Valuable Education plan, which offered some borrowers a path to loan forgiveness or low income-based monthly payments. 

This is being replaced with the Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP, which requires income-based monthly payments that start at 1% of the borrower’s adjusted gross income and go up to 10%. 

There’s also the Tiered Standard Plan, in which the monthly payments are calculated based on the loan’s total principal balance, the interest rate and the length of the repayment period. This plan sets a maximum repayment period between 10 and 25 years based on the total principal balance. 

Access to these options varies based on the type of loan or when the loans were acquired. 

For a complete list of definitions and changes visit the Federal Student Aid website.

The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.