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Education department proposes major overhaul of student loan rules

February 6, 2026

On January 30, the U.S. Department of Education issued an NPRM in the Federal Register proposing to amend regulations for federal student loan programs in order to implement the statutory directives from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. These proposed amendments would, among other things: (i) eliminate the Grad PLUS program; (ii) include new Direct Loan and Direct PLUS Loan annual and aggregate limits, create a new lifetime maximum aggregate limit, establish less than full-time reduction of annual loan limits, and permit institutions to limit borrowing for specific programs; (iii) consolidate existing borrower assistance plans into two new streamlined student loan repayment plans, the “Repayment Assistance Plan” and the “Tiered Standard” repayment plan; and (iv) allow loan rehabilitation twice per loan under the Federal Perkins Program, Federal Family Education Loan Program, and the Direct Loan Program. Comments on the proposal are due March 2.