Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan Program Eliminated, Reshaping Graduate Student Financing

The Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan program was eliminated on July 1, 2026, as part of new federal limits on graduate student borrowing. This change, discussed in an analysis from Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, means graduate students will face new annual and lifetime caps on federal loans, potentially making it harder to finance degrees in certain fields and impacting workforce recruitment.