Beginning July 1, 2026, Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans will be prorated based on the number of credits in which a student is enrolled/academically engaged.

Similar to the Pell grant, students are offered the maximum amount of Federal Direct Loan funding per year based on full-time enrollment. See below for an enrollment guide detailing the number of credits in which a student must be enrolled/academically engaged to be considered full-time for financial aid purposes.

 

With the new Federal Direct Loan proration requirement, full-time students will receive the full amount of their annual loan offer. If a student is enrolled less than full-time, they will not be eligible to receive the full-time amount of loans offered to them. Instead, the university will calculate the amount of loan funding the student is eligible to receive based on the number of credits in which they are enrolled/academically engaged.

See below for annual Federal Direct Loan limits.

The formula we will use to determine how much of a federal direct loan a student may receive in a semester based on the number of credits in which they are enrolled is below.

At minimum, students need to be enrolled at least half-time to receive any Federal Direct Loan funding.

See below for an enrollment guide detailing the number of credits in which a student must be enrolled/academically engaged to be considered half-time for financial aid purposes.

 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) completely eliminates the Graduate PLUS Loan program for new borrowers beginning July 1, 2026.

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If you borrowed any type of Federal Direct Loan for the degree program in which you are currently enrolled before July 1, 2026:

Anyone who has previously borrowed a Federal Direct Loan of any kind during their current degree program and prior to July 1, 2026 may borrow a Graduate PLUS loan for up to three additional academic years or until they complete their program, whichever comes first. Only students who borrowed a Federal Direct Loan for the degree program in which they are currently enrolled may borrow a new Graduate PLUS Loan.

If you're eligible to borrow a Graduate PLUS Loan:

Graduate students are eligible to borrow under the PLUS Loan program up to their cost of attendance minus other financial assistance. Students can apply by logging into studentaid.gov and completing the application. Applicants for these loans are required to complete the FAFSA at fafsa.gov. Learn more and apply at studentaid.gov.

Eligibility is based on credit. An endorser may be required for some loans to be approved.

Learn more and apply at studentaid.gov.

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If you did not borrow any type of Federal Direct Loan for the degree program in which you are currently enrolled before July 1, 2026:

Anyone who did not borrow a Federal Direct Loan of any kind for the degree program in which they are currently enrolled before July 1, 2026 is not eligible to borrow a Graduate PLUS loan after July 1, 2026.

Other options to help cover costs for students who are unable to borrow a Graduate PLUS Loan include:

• Borrowing Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans
• Borrowing private loans
• Applying for scholarships
• Utilizing payment plans

Explore additional sources of financial aid for graduate students at stockton.edu/finaid.

Parent PLUS Loan borrowing will change as a result of the OBBBA. These changes include updates to annual and lifetime borrowing limits for Parent PLUS Loan borrowers.

• For parents who borrowed a Parent PLUS Loan prior to July 1, 2026:

Parents who borrowed a Parent PLUS Loan prior to July 1, 2026 whose student is still enrolled in the same degree program they were when their parent borrowed the Parent PLUS Loan may continue to borrow up to their student's Cost of Attendance (COA) and will not be subject to a lifetime limit for that child for three additional academic years or until the child completes their degree program, whichever comes first.

• For parents who did not borrow a Parent PLUS Loan prior to July 1, 2026:

Parents who did not borrow a Parent PLUS Loan prior to July 1, 2026 will be able to borrow up to $16,250 per academic year, per child and up to $65,000 per child in their lifetime.

*Please note that the Federal Parent PLUS Loan limit is changing to up to $20,000 per academic year, per child; however, to ensure that parents have remaining eligibility if approved for Parent PLUS Loan funding in additional years, parents will be able to borrow up to $16,250 per child, per year at Stockton University. If approved, this will allow them to borrow the new lifetime limit of $65,000 in four years. Otherwise, eligibility could run out before a student graduates.

Graduate and professional student lifetime federal direct loan limits have changed under the OBBBA. The new loan limits, which are effective July 1, 2026 are below:

*Please note that these new loan limits do not include undergraduate borrowing. The are solely based on graduate/professional borrowing. Students may borrow up to $100,000 for their graduate study and $250,000 for their professional study.

Previous annual and lifetime limits will continue to apply to anyone who previously borrowed a Federal Direct Loan prior to July 1, 2026 and is currently enrolled in the same degree program they were when they borrowed a Federal Direct Loan for up to three academic years or until they complete their degree program, whichever comes first. Previously, graduate and professional students shared the same annual limit of $20,500 and lifetime limit of $138,500.

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A $257,500 lifetime borrowing limit will apply to all federal student loans, with the exception of Parent PLUS and Graduate PLUS Loans. 

Current borrowers with no new loans made on or after July 1, 2026 may enroll in any of the below repayment plans:

• The Current Standard Repayment Plan
• The Graduated Repayment Plan
• The Extended Repayment Plan
• The Current Income Based (IBR) repayment plans
• The New Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)
  • Details below

Current borrowers may also switch between, enter or remain on existing IDR plans until July 1, 2028. If no selection is made by that date, they will be automatically moved into RAP.

Borrowers with new loans made on or after July 1, 2026 can be repaid using one of two plans:

• The New Standard Repayment Plan
  • Details below
• The New Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)
  • Details below

If a borrower with new loans made on or after July 1, 2026 does not select a plan, they will be assigned to the new standard repayment plan.

Consolidation loans made on or after July 1, 2026, are only eligible for the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) or standard repayment plans.

A consolidation loan (subsidized or unsubsidized) taken out by a borrower before July 1, 2026, is treated like any other eligible loan.

Borrowers currently in an IDR plan have until July 1, 2028, to select a standard plan, IBR, or RAP.

If the consolidation loan was used to pay off a Parent PLUS Loan, the borrower must enroll in ICR and make at least one payment under ICR before July 1, 2028 in order to be eligible for IBR when ICR is sunset. If the borrower takes no action by that date, all eligible loans will be automatically moved to RAP, and any loans not eligible for RAP will be placed into IBR.

All new Parent PLUS loans from July 1, 2026 on must be repaid under the standard repayment plan, they 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 borrowers who had borrowed Parent PLUS before July 1, 2026, and subsequently borrowed from the program on or after July 1, 2026, repayment for all loans must be under the same repayment plan, of which the only eligible plan for Parent PLUS borrowers is the standard plan.

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Parent PLUS loans issued on or after July 1, 2026, will not have access to Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans, making them ineligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Existing borrowers must consolidate into a Direct Loan and enter the Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) plan before July 1, 2028, to maintain PSLF eligibility.

The OBBBA will sunset economic hardship and unemployment deferments. These circumstances will not be considered for loan deferment after July 1, 2027.

Borrowers with loans made on or before July 1, 2027, are still able to use these deferment options under the current rules. Once all borrower’s loans made prior to that date are paid in full, these options will cease to exist.

Loans made on or after July 1, 2027 will be eligible for forbearance for up to nine months in any two-year period.

Current rules allow for a forbearance up to 12 months at a time, with a cumulative limit of three years.

Any student whose entire Cost of Attendance (COA) is covered by other non-federal grants and scholarships will not be able to receive a Pell grant even if they meet other eligibility criteria for the program.

Students whose Student Aid Index (SAI) exceeds twice the maximum Pell grant award for an academic year will not be eligible to receive a Pell grant. The maximum Pell grant for the 2026-2027 academic year is $7,395; therefore, anyone whose SAI is 14,970 or higher will not be eligible to receive a Pell grant even if they meet other eligibility criteria for the program.