The 'Professional Degree Access Restoration Act' Removes Federal Loan Caps for Graduate Students: Unlimited Borrowing is Back

The Professional Degree Access Restoration Act is straightforward: it completely removes the annual and aggregate loan limits on Federal Direct PLUS Loans for graduate and professional students. If you’re eyeing medical school, law school, or any advanced degree, this bill essentially takes the guardrails off your federal borrowing options. It strikes the specific dollar caps that have been in place since 2012, along with removing a bunch of outdated, date-specific loan provisions that were cluttering up the Higher Education Act (SEC. 2).

The All-You-Can-Borrow Buffet

Before this bill, the government put a ceiling on how much you could borrow federally for your graduate education, both per year and over the course of your degree. This was meant to keep student debt somewhat contained. This bill eliminates those caps entirely. For students, this means increased access to funding for expensive programs. Think of a student who needs $40,000 a year for tuition plus living expenses, but the old annual cap was only $20,500—they had to turn to private loans or other sources. Now, they can potentially cover the full cost of attendance using federal PLUS loans, which often have better repayment options than private loans.

The Cost of Access

While this change definitely clears a major hurdle for students seeking advanced degrees, it’s not without serious risk. Removing the aggregate limit means a student could potentially graduate with hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal debt, particularly in fields like dentistry or specialized medicine. For the individual student, this level of debt can be crippling, impacting everything from buying a home to starting a family. The benefit of increased access comes hand-in-hand with the risk of significantly higher personal debt burdens.

The Bigger Picture: Tuition and Taxpayers

When the government removes loan limits, it can sometimes signal to universities that they have more room to raise tuition, knowing that federal aid will cover the increase. If students can borrow any amount needed, the incentive for institutions to control costs diminishes. Furthermore, since PLUS loans are federal debt, the risk of higher loan defaults—which often occurs with massive debt loads—gets transferred to the taxpayer. While the bill aims to open the doors to professional careers, the long-term reality is that it might unintentionally fuel tuition inflation and increase the financial exposure of the federal loan system.