ED, Negotiators Reach Agreement on Graduate Loan and Repayment Rules

The Department of Education (ED) and higher education stakeholders reached consensus yesterday on regulatory language to carry out the One Big Beautiful Bill's (OBBB) student loan and repayment provisions, a key milestone in implementing the law's sweeping overhaul of federal financial aid.

ED's Reimagining and Improving Student Education rulemaking committee agreed on regulatory language for all 17 topics under consideration, including new loan limits, updated definitions, and revised borrower repayment plans. The department will publish the regulatory text for public comment in the coming months, with the law slated to take effect July 1, 2026.

The most contentious issue negotiators considered was how to define "professional students." Under OBBB, students in professional programs can borrow up to $50,000 per year and a total of $200,000, while those in other graduate programs are capped at $20,500 annually and $100,000 overall, if they are a first-time graduate student.

Ultimately, ED agreed to expand the list of eligible "professional" programs from the 10 programs cited as examples in the statutory text to add clinical psychology, falling well short of the broader interpretation ACE and others had urgedED to incorporate to account for other high-need, high-cost fields.

ACE and its partners will continue pressing ED to allow adequate time for institutions, financial aid offices, and technology vendors to implement these sweeping changes, a critical lesson from the rocky FAFSA rollout two years ago.

"Given the massive disruptions of the flawed launch of the new [FAFSA], it is essential that we avoid another large-scale disruption of our aid and lending systems," ACE and more than 40 other higher education associations wrote in a comment letterto ED.

For more, read The Chronicle of Higher Educationand Inside Higher Ed.