Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid

Policy Area	Updates
Federal Pell Grant Eligibility	Students are ineligible to receive Pell if their cost of attendance is already covered by other non-federal grants and/or scholarships. Cost of attendance includes tuition, fees, housing, food, books, course materials, supplies and equipment, transportation, and miscellaneous living expenses.
Parent PLUS Loan Limits*	Parents are now limited to $20,000 per academic year/$65,000 lifetime per dependent student.
Student Loan Proration	Borrowers enrolled less than full-time (12 hours) will only be able to borrow a prorated maximum loan offer based on enrolled hours.

*If the student or parent borrower has a Federal Direct Loan made before July 1, 2026, while the dependent student is enrolled in a program of study, the parent may be able to borrow under the old loan limits for 3 academic years or the remainder of their dependent student’s expected time to credential, whichever is less.

Policy Area	Updates
Student Loan Limits	Graduate students are now limited to $20,500 per academic year/$100,000 lifetime
Student Loan Proration	Borrowers enrolled less than full-time (12 hours) will only be able to borrow a prorated maximum loan offer based on enrolled hours.
Graduate PLUS Loans	Eliminated if you begin your academic program on or after July 1, 2026*
Borrowing Cap	$257,000 borrowing cap on all federal loans

*Current graduate students may continue to borrow under the existing federal loan limits and retain access to Graduate PLUS Loans for a limited period. Eligibility continues until the earlier of: (1) the end of the student's current academic program, or (2) three academic years after July 1, 2026. To determine a student's remaining eligibility period, the published length of the academic program is reduced by the amount of time the student has already been enrolled as of July 1, 2026. A "current borrower" is defined as a student who received at least one Graduate PLUS Loan or Direct Unsubsidized Loan before July 1, 2026, and who remains enrolled in the same academic program on or after that date.

For purposes of determining Graduate PLUS Loan eligibility at Georgia Tech:

• Master's degree programs are considered to have a published program length of two years.

• Doctoral degree programs are considered to have a published program length of eight years.

Policy Area	Updates
Loan Repayment Plans	Implemented new and simplified Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) with rates 1% to 10% of discretionary income Eliminated SAVE plan Extended forgiveness periods to 30 years Introduced minimum monthly payments All loans must be repaid on the same plan, so if you borrow before and after July 1, 2026 you will be limited to the standard or RAP plans If you do not borrow new loans after July 1, 2026 you will be eligible to enroll in the current Standard, Graduated, Extended, or current Income Based (IBR) repayment plans, and may also opt in to the new RAP

Expected time to credential is, from July 1, 2026, the expected time for a student to complete a program that is equal to or the lesser of:

• Three academic years, as defined in 34 CFR 668.3; or

• The period determined by calculating the difference between

  • the program length of student in which is enrolled; and

  • the period of such program of study that such individual has completed as of the date of determination

All information is tentative pending issuance of final regulatory text by the Department of Education