II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 308
To modify the annual and aggregate limits of Federal Unsubsidized Stafford
Loans for graduate and professional students, and to terminate Federal
Direct PLUS Loans for graduate and professional students, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY29, 2025
Mr. T
UBERVILLE(for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To modify the annual and aggregate limits of Federal Un-
subsidized Stafford Loans for graduate and professional
students, and to terminate Federal Direct PLUS Loans
for graduate and professional students, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Graduate Opportunity 4
and Affordable Loans Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. LOAN REFORMS. 1
Section 455 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 2
U.S.C.1087e) is amended— 3
(1) in subsection (a)— 4
(A) in paragraph (3)(A)— 5
(i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 6
by striking ‘‘part B’’ and inserting ‘‘part 7
B—’’ 8
(ii) beginning in the matter preceding 9
clause (i), by striking ‘‘for any period’’ and 10
all that follows through ‘‘professional stu-11
dent’’ and inserting the following: 12
‘‘(i) for any period of instruction be-13
ginning on or after July 1, 2012, a grad-14
uate or professional student’’; and 15
(iii) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘for 16
any period of instruction beginning on July 17
1, 2012 and ending on June 30, 2025 18
(subject to paragraph (4)(C)),’’ before ‘‘the 19
maximum annual’’; and 20
(B) by adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘(4) G
RADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL ANNUAL 22
AND AGGREGATE LIMITS FOR UNSUBSIDIZED STAF -23
FORD LOANS BEGINNING JULY 1 , 2025.— 24
‘‘(A) A
NNUAL LIMITS BEGINNING JULY 1 , 25
2025.—Subject to subparagraph (C), beginning 26
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on July 1, 2025, the maximum annual amount 1
of Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford 2
loans— 3
‘‘(i) a graduate student, who is not a 4
professional student, may borrow in any 5
academic year (as defined in section 6
481(a)(2)) or its equivalent shall be 7
$20,500; and 8
‘‘(ii) a professional student may bor-9
row in any academic year (as defined in 10
section 481(a)(2)) or its equivalent shall be 11
$40,500. 12
‘‘(B) A
GGREGATE LIMITS BEGINNING JULY 13
1, 2025.—Subject to subparagraph (C), begin-14
ning on July 1, 2025, the maximum aggregate 15
amount of Federal Direct Unsubsidized Staf-16
ford loans— 17
‘‘(i) a graduate student, who is not a 18
professional student, may borrow is 19
$65,000, in addition to the amount bor-20
rowed for undergraduate education; and 21
‘‘(ii) a professional student may bor-22
row is $130,000, in addition to the amount 23
borrowed for undergraduate education. 24
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‘‘(C) PHASE OUT PROVISIONS .—Notwith-1
standing the date of the applicability of the lim-2
its set forth in this paragraph, an eligible grad-3
uate student, including a professional student, 4
who received a disbursement of a Federal Di-5
rect Unsubsidized Stafford loan after June 30, 6
2024, and before July 1, 2025, for the 2024– 7
2025 award year, may receive a Federal Direct 8
Unsubsidized Stafford loan for the 2025–2026 9
award year in amounts that are subject to the 10
annual and aggregate loan limits applicable 11
prior to July 1, 2025, if the borrower did not 12
graduate prior to the 2025–2026 award year. 13
‘‘(D) D
EFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 14
‘‘(i) G
RADUATE STUDENT .—The term 15
‘graduate student’ means a student en-16
rolled in a program at the 17
postbaccalaureate level, such as a 18
postbaccalaureate certificate, a master’s 19
degree, or a doctor’s degree. 20
‘‘(ii) P
ROFESSIONAL STUDENT .—The 21
term ‘professional student’ means a stu-22
dent enrolled in a doctor’s degree-profes-23
sional practice program. 24
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‘‘(iii) POSTBACCALAUREATE CERTIFI -1
CATE; MASTER’S DEGREE; DOCTOR’SDE-2
GREE; DOCTOR’S DEGREE PROFESSIONAL - 3
PRACTICE.—The terms ‘postbaccalaureate 4
certificate’, ‘master’s degree’, ‘doctor’s de-5
gree’, and ‘doctor’s degree professional- 6
practice’ shall have the meaning provided 7
in the 2022–2023 glossary of the Inte-8
grated Postsecondary Education Data Sys-9
tem (OMB NO. 1859–0582 v. 30). 10
‘‘(5) T
ERMINATION OF AUTHORITY TO MAKE 11
FEDERAL DIRECT PLUS LOANS TO GRADUATE AND 12
PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS .— 13
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 14
other provision of law, for any period of instruc-15
tion beginning on or after July 1, 2025, a grad-16
uate student (including a professional student) 17
shall not be eligible to receive a Federal Direct 18
PLUS Loan under this part for enrollment in 19
a program of graduate or doctor’s degree pro-20
fessional-practice education. 21
‘‘(B) P
HASE OUT PROVISIONS .—Not later 22
than 30 days after the date of enactment of the 23
Graduate Opportunity and Affordable Loans 24
Act, each institution of higher education that 25
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enrolls graduate students or professional stu-1
dents shall notify prospective and enrolled grad-2
uate students and professional students that 3
the Federal Direct PLUS Loan program will 4
end for graduate students and professional stu-5
dents on June 30, 2025. 6
‘‘(C) D
EFINITIONS.—The definitions in 7
paragraph (4)(D) shall apply to this paragraph. 8
‘‘(6) I
NSTITUTIONALLY-DETERMINED LIMITS.— 9
Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, an 10
eligible institution (at the discretion of a financial 11
aid administrator at the institution) may prorate or 12
limit the amount of a loan a student who is enrolled 13
in a program of study at that institution for a pe-14
riod of instruction beginning on or after July 1, 15
2025, may borrow under this part for an academic 16
year, as long as any proration or limit is applied 17
consistently to all borrowers entering such program 18
of study.’’. 19
Æ
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