The Feds Just Told Grad Students Go Beg Chase for Tuition Money

$20,500 a year. That’s your new federal “good luck out there” limit for grad school starting July 2026.

And no, that’s not $20,500 per semester, or per class, or per emotional breakdown. Per year. In an economy where a single textbook costs a kidney and a parking pass costs your dignity.

Here’s the move: the government is chopping Graduate PLUS loans (aka the “fine, I’ll just borrow the rest” button) and slamming a $100,000 lifetime cap on federal grad borrowing. If you’re headed to med school, law school, or literally any program that charges “because we can” pricing, you just got shoved off the federal life raft.

They’ll sell this as “responsible borrowing” and “protecting students from debt.”

And it’s not just grad students. Parent PLUS access is getting kneecapped too, which means families that were already duct-taping tuition together with loans and vibes are about to learn what “cash flow” means the hard way.

Meanwhile, schools keep jacking up tuition like it’s a subscription service and you’re too addicted to cancel.