Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB308 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 308
5	5	To modify the annual and aggregate limits of Federal Unsubsidized Stafford
6	6	Loans for graduate and professional students, and to terminate Federal
7	7	Direct PLUS Loans for graduate and professional students, and for
8	8	other purposes.
9	9	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	JANUARY29, 2025
11	11	Mr. T
12	12	UBERVILLE(for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill;
13	13	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
14	14	cation, Labor, and Pensions
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To modify the annual and aggregate limits of Federal Un-
17	17	subsidized Stafford Loans for graduate and professional
18	18	students, and to terminate Federal Direct PLUS Loans
19	19	for graduate and professional students, and for other
20	20	purposes.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Graduate Opportunity 4
25	25	and Affordable Loans Act’’. 5
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28	28	•S 308 IS
29	29	SEC. 2. LOAN REFORMS. 1
30	30	Section 455 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 2
31	31	U.S.C.1087e) is amended— 3
32	32	(1) in subsection (a)— 4
33	33	(A) in paragraph (3)(A)— 5
34	34	(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 6
35	35	by striking ‘‘part B’’ and inserting ‘‘part 7
36	36	B—’’ 8
37	37	(ii) beginning in the matter preceding 9
38	38	clause (i), by striking ‘‘for any period’’ and 10
39	39	all that follows through ‘‘professional stu-11
40	40	dent’’ and inserting the following: 12
41	41	‘‘(i) for any period of instruction be-13
42	42	ginning on or after July 1, 2012, a grad-14
43	43	uate or professional student’’; and 15
44	44	(iii) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘for 16
45	45	any period of instruction beginning on July 17
46	46	1, 2012 and ending on June 30, 2025 18
47	47	(subject to paragraph (4)(C)),’’ before ‘‘the 19
48	48	maximum annual’’; and 20
49	49	(B) by adding at the end the following: 21
50	50	‘‘(4) G
51	51	RADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL ANNUAL 22
52	52	AND AGGREGATE LIMITS FOR UNSUBSIDIZED STAF -23
53	53	FORD LOANS BEGINNING JULY 1 , 2025.— 24
54	54	‘‘(A) A
55	55	NNUAL LIMITS BEGINNING JULY 1 , 25
56	56	2025.—Subject to subparagraph (C), beginning 26
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59	59	•S 308 IS
60	60	on July 1, 2025, the maximum annual amount 1
61	61	of Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford 2
62	62	loans— 3
63	63	‘‘(i) a graduate student, who is not a 4
64	64	professional student, may borrow in any 5
65	65	academic year (as defined in section 6
66	66	481(a)(2)) or its equivalent shall be 7
67	67	$20,500; and 8
68	68	‘‘(ii) a professional student may bor-9
69	69	row in any academic year (as defined in 10
70	70	section 481(a)(2)) or its equivalent shall be 11
71	71	$40,500. 12
72	72	‘‘(B) A
73	73	GGREGATE LIMITS BEGINNING JULY 13
74	74	1, 2025.—Subject to subparagraph (C), begin-14
75	75	ning on July 1, 2025, the maximum aggregate 15
76	76	amount of Federal Direct Unsubsidized Staf-16
77	77	ford loans— 17
78	78	‘‘(i) a graduate student, who is not a 18
79	79	professional student, may borrow is 19
80	80	$65,000, in addition to the amount bor-20
81	81	rowed for undergraduate education; and 21
82	82	‘‘(ii) a professional student may bor-22
83	83	row is $130,000, in addition to the amount 23
84	84	borrowed for undergraduate education. 24
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87	87	•S 308 IS
88	88	‘‘(C) PHASE OUT PROVISIONS .—Notwith-1
89	89	standing the date of the applicability of the lim-2
90	90	its set forth in this paragraph, an eligible grad-3
91	91	uate student, including a professional student, 4
92	92	who received a disbursement of a Federal Di-5
93	93	rect Unsubsidized Stafford loan after June 30, 6
94	94	2024, and before July 1, 2025, for the 2024– 7
95	95	2025 award year, may receive a Federal Direct 8
96	96	Unsubsidized Stafford loan for the 2025–2026 9
97	97	award year in amounts that are subject to the 10
98	98	annual and aggregate loan limits applicable 11
99	99	prior to July 1, 2025, if the borrower did not 12
100	100	graduate prior to the 2025–2026 award year. 13
101	101	‘‘(D) D
102	102	EFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 14
103	103	‘‘(i) G
104	104	RADUATE STUDENT .—The term 15
105	105	‘graduate student’ means a student en-16
106	106	rolled in a program at the 17
107	107	postbaccalaureate level, such as a 18
108	108	postbaccalaureate certificate, a master’s 19
109	109	degree, or a doctor’s degree. 20
110	110	‘‘(ii) P
111	111	ROFESSIONAL STUDENT .—The 21
112	112	term ‘professional student’ means a stu-22
113	113	dent enrolled in a doctor’s degree-profes-23
114	114	sional practice program. 24
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117	117	•S 308 IS
118	118	‘‘(iii) POSTBACCALAUREATE CERTIFI -1
119	119	CATE; MASTER’S DEGREE; DOCTOR’SDE-2
120	120	GREE; DOCTOR’S DEGREE PROFESSIONAL - 3
121	121	PRACTICE.—The terms ‘postbaccalaureate 4
122	122	certificate’, ‘master’s degree’, ‘doctor’s de-5
123	123	gree’, and ‘doctor’s degree professional- 6
124	124	practice’ shall have the meaning provided 7
125	125	in the 2022–2023 glossary of the Inte-8
126	126	grated Postsecondary Education Data Sys-9
127	127	tem (OMB NO. 1859–0582 v. 30). 10
128	128	‘‘(5) T
129	129	ERMINATION OF AUTHORITY TO MAKE 11
130	130	FEDERAL DIRECT PLUS LOANS TO GRADUATE AND 12
131	131	PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS .— 13
132	132	‘‘(A) I
133	133	N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 14
134	134	other provision of law, for any period of instruc-15
135	135	tion beginning on or after July 1, 2025, a grad-16
136	136	uate student (including a professional student) 17
137	137	shall not be eligible to receive a Federal Direct 18
138	138	PLUS Loan under this part for enrollment in 19
139	139	a program of graduate or doctor’s degree pro-20
140	140	fessional-practice education. 21
141	141	‘‘(B) P
142	142	HASE OUT PROVISIONS .—Not later 22
143	143	than 30 days after the date of enactment of the 23
144	144	Graduate Opportunity and Affordable Loans 24
145	145	Act, each institution of higher education that 25
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148	148	•S 308 IS
149	149	enrolls graduate students or professional stu-1
150	150	dents shall notify prospective and enrolled grad-2
151	151	uate students and professional students that 3
152	152	the Federal Direct PLUS Loan program will 4
153	153	end for graduate students and professional stu-5
154	154	dents on June 30, 2025. 6
155	155	‘‘(C) D
156	156	EFINITIONS.—The definitions in 7
157	157	paragraph (4)(D) shall apply to this paragraph. 8
158	158	‘‘(6) I
159	159	NSTITUTIONALLY-DETERMINED LIMITS.— 9
160	160	Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, an 10
161	161	eligible institution (at the discretion of a financial 11
162	162	aid administrator at the institution) may prorate or 12
163	163	limit the amount of a loan a student who is enrolled 13
164	164	in a program of study at that institution for a pe-14
165	165	riod of instruction beginning on or after July 1, 15
166	166	2025, may borrow under this part for an academic 16
167	167	year, as long as any proration or limit is applied 17
168	168	consistently to all borrowers entering such program 18
169	169	of study.’’. 19
170	170	Æ
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