One Big Beautiful Bill

The University will be required to adjust the annual federal loan limit for ALL borrowers enrolled less-than-full-time.

Effective July 1, 2026, your federal loan eligibility will be determined in part by your enrollment status. 

Students enrolled less-than-full-time will have their loan eligibility reduced proportionally to their level of enrollment. Depending on the timing of the enrollment level changes, loan eligibility may be adjusted for the current semester, both the current and future semester(s), or just future semester(s). We are receiving ongoing guidance on how these changes are to be implemented. Because changes to eligibility will initially need to be made manually by the Financial Aid Office, there may be delays between adjustments to charges and the corresponding aid adjustments.

Note: The legacy provisions do not apply to the loan reduction rules.

Some students may still qualify under the prior rules for federal loan limits and loan programs based under a limited legacy provision, provided they meet specific eligibility requirements. The legacy provisions do not apply to less-than-full-time loan reductions.

• If a student has received a direct federal loan made before July 1, 2026, while enrolled in an eligible program at Biola, the student can continue to borrow for that program for the lesser of three academic years or the remainder of their expected time to completion of their degree.
  • The remainder of the expected time to completion is calculated by subtracting the number of terms a student has been enrolled in their program from the length of the program.
  • A student is only eligible for the legacy provision if they were enrolled at Biola in Spring 2026 for a semester-based program or Summer 2026 before July 1, 2026 for a trimester program, and they must remain enrolled in the same program and maintain continuous enrollment.
  • If a student changes programs, does not attend a term, or withdraws from a term, eligibility for the legacy provision is lost.
• The Legacy provisions allow for or require:
  • Eligible grad students to continue to access Graduate PLUS Loans provided they still meet the loan requirements.
  • Eligible grad students to borrow unsubsidized loans under the current annual and aggregate federal loan levels.
  • The parents of eligible undergraduate students to access Parent PLUS Loans under the prior rules provided they still meet the loan requirements. Parent PLUS loans made to students under legacy provisions are not subject to the new PLUS loan limits.
• Eligibility for the legacy provisions will be made by the Office of Financial Aid during June.

Starting July 1, 2026, the Graduate Direct PLUS Loan program will be eliminated for new graduate and professional student borrowers.

• Current Borrowers
  • The law eliminates the Graduate PLUS program, effective July 1, 2026. Students who qualify for the limited legacy provisions described above may continue to access the Graduate PLUS Loan program provided that they continue to meet the limited legacy requirements.
• New Borrowers
  • The law eliminates the Grad PLUS Loan program for new graduate and professional borrowers after July 1, 2026. If a student has not received a Direct Loan prior to July 1, 2026 or was not enrolled in Spring 2026 for a semester-based program or summer 2026 before July 1, 2026 for a trimester program, the student is not eligible for a Grad PLUS Loan.

Note: For other private loan options, explore the Private Student Loan page.

The act establishes updated annual, aggregate and lifetime borrowing limits.

Graduate and Professional Students

On July 1, 2026, new annual and aggregate Direct Unsubsidized Loan limits apply to graduate and professional students who do not qualify for the legacy provision referenced above. Students who qualify for the legacy provisions explained above are not eligible for the new loan limits.

Professional Students: Students in the Talbot MDIV program or a Rosemead Doctoral program.
Graduate Students: Students enrolled in a graduate degree program other than the Talbot MDIV or Rosemead Doctoral program.

• Graduate Student Limits
  • Annual Limit: $20,500
  • Aggregate Limit: $100,000*
  • Lifetime Limit: $257,500
    • This includes all types of federal student loans, including loans that have been paid off or discharged, and excluding the borrowed parent PLUS loan amount. This does not apply to students who meet the legacy qualifications as long as they maintain the legacy status.
*The prior limit for graduate students was $138,500 total for undergraduate and graduate program borrowing combined. The new $100,000 limit does not include loans borrowed as an undergraduate.

• Professional Student Limits
  • Annual Limit: $50,000
  • Aggregate Limit: $200,000
  • Lifetime Limit: $257,500
    • This includes all types of federal student loans, including loans that have been paid off or discharged, and excluding the borrowed parent PLUS loan amount. This does not apply to students who meet the legacy qualifications as long as they maintain the legacy status.

Please note:

• Students who are both graduate and professional students at different points in their education may borrow a combined maximum of $200,000 for graduate and professional study.
• Students who qualify for the legacy provisions explained above cannot opt out of the prior limits. We are required under the new regulations to determine loan eligibility for legacy students based on the old rules.

Undergraduate Students

• Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans. There were no changes to the annual or aggregate loan limits for undergraduate students.
• Parent PLUS Loans. New annual and aggregate Parent PLUS Loan limits apply to undergraduate students who do not qualify for the legacy provision explained above. Please note that these limits are per student, regardless of which parent is the borrower.
  • Annual Limit: $20,000 per dependent student
  • Aggregate Limit: $65,000 per dependent student
    
    IMPORTANT: If a parent previously borrowed a Parent PLUS Loan and borrows additional Parent PLUS Loan after July 1, 2026 they are no longer eligible to consolidate these loans into an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. Please discuss the potential impact on repayment options for past federal loans with your loan servicer prior to taking additional Plus Loans.

Note: For other private loan options, explore the Private Student Loan page.

The act makes several changes to federal loan repayment plans.

• For new loans disbursed after July 1, 2026, the bill eliminates current income-driven repayment plans (IBR, PAYE, SAVE) and replaces them with a new Repayment Assistance Program (RAP).
• Students who have borrowed loans before July 1, 2026, and will borrow a new loan after July 1, 2026, are limited to the new RAP or the standard plans for the new loan.
• RAP borrowers will not be locked into a 30-year plan. They can switch to a standard plan, which ranges from 10 to 25 years.
• Borrowers with no new loans made on or after July 1, 2026, can continue to be eligible to enroll in the current Standard, current Income Based (IBR), Graduated, and Extended repayment plans, and could also opt in to the new RAP. Current borrowers enrolled in ICR, PAYE or SAVE plans must transition to a new repayment plan by July 1, 2028. If no selection is made by that date, they will be moved into RAP.

• Students who receive grants or scholarships from non-federal sources (institutional, state, or private) that cover their entire cost of attendance (COA) are ineligible to receive a Pell Grant, even if otherwise eligible for the program.
• Students are ineligible for a Pell Grant if their SAI exceeds twice the maximum Pell Grant award. Students with an SAI equal to or greater than 14,790 (twice the maximum Pell Grant) are ineligible to receive a Pell Grant.

• Students who have received a direct federal loan made before July 1, 2026, while enrolled in an eligible program at Biola and have borrowed Direct Loans for that program.
  • “Program” for undergraduate students in this context refers to any undergraduate degree program. For instance, if an undergraduate student borrowed as a Business major and changes to a Music major, that student is still eligible for the legacy provisions.
  • “Program” for graduate students refers to a specific program as designated by a graduate program’s four-digit CIP code. If a student changes to a graduate program in which the first four digits of the CIP code differ, that student will lose eligibility for the legacy provisions. Graduate students can change concentrations under the same four-digit CIP code.
• Students whose remaining eligibility under the lesser of three academic years or the remainder of their expected time to completion of their degree. The remainder of the expected time to completion is calculated by subtracting the number of terms a student has been enrolled in their program from the length of the program.
• Students who were enrolled at Biola in Spring 2026 for a semester-based program or summer 2026 before July 1, 2026 for a trimester program.

Eligibility for the legacy provision will be lost if you take a leave of absence or withdraw from a semester.

• Students in trimester programs must attend all three terms each year.
• Students in semester programs where summer is optional are not required to take a summer term.

Yes, if you reach the limits for time in your program after any semester in a school year, you will lose eligibility under the prior loan rules for subsequent semesters. This means that you may no longer have eligibility for some or all federal loan programs.

If you have reached your federal loan limits, you can review private lender options on the loans page.

Incoming fall students are under the new loan limits and rules.

If a student is less than full-time for the school year, we are required to adjust loans based on revised enrollment. To make the adjustment, we must first determine the student’s revised cost of attendance and then determine the new loan eligibility based on projected or actual total credits for the year. For instance, an undergraduate student with $5,500 in loan eligibility who drops to 9 credit hours for fall would be eligible for $5,500 * 21/24 = $4,812. The fraction 21/24 is based on the number of credits required for a full-time academic year for undergraduate programs. Masters programs typically require 18 credits for the year and Doctoral programs require 12 credits per year. Note that trimester programs require more programs for their academic years.

Below are details of how loans are adjusted for less-than-full-time status for various scenarios for semester-based programs. Trimester programs are similar but slightly different since the summer term is also always in the equation.

• Before fall loans are disbursed: Your fall and spring loan amounts will be reduced based on actual fall enrollment and projected spring enrollment using a proportional method.
• After fall loans are disbursed but before spring loans disburse: The fall loans will remain the same but spring loans must be reduced by the full amount needed to remain within the new loan eligibility amount.
• After fall and spring loans are disbursed, no adjustments are required.