{"id":4306,"date":"2026-10-14T14:20:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/?page_id=4306"},"modified":"2026-10-14T15:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T19:52:43","slug":"one-big-beautiful-bill-act","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/one-big-beautiful-bill-act\/","title":{"rendered":"One Big Beautiful Bill Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on July 4, 2025. While major elements\u2014such as changes to federal student loans, eligibility caps, and new accountability measures\u2014are now legally effective July 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education has not yet released detailed implementation guidelines. We are closely monitoring policy updates, regulatory guidance, and FAQs, and will continue to update this page as information becomes available. For updated information, please visit https:\/\/studentaid.gov\/announcements-events\/big-updates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This page will be updated as new information becomes available.\u00a0 Please check back often.<\/p>\n

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*Update 10\/14\/2026*<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

Federal Direct Loan Schedule of Reductions (SOR)<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning July 1, 2026, the amount you can borrow in federal student loans will depend on the number of credit hours you are enrolled in. If you are enrolled less than full-time, your annual federal loan limit will be reduced based on your enrollment. This federal requirement is called the Schedule of Reductions (SOR).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Schedule of Reductions applies to Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, and Graduate PLUS Loans for students who remain eligible to borrow them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students are typically offered the maximum amount of Federal Direct Loan funding per year based on full-time enrollment. See below for an enrollment guide detailing the number of credits a student must be enrolled in to be considered full-time for financial aid purposes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u202fDegree Type<\/strong><\/td>\n\n

Full-Time Credits Per Term\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

MD and DMD<\/span><\/td>\n\n

\u00a09 credits<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Master of Dental Science<\/span><\/td>\n\n

9 credits<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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With the new Federal Direct Loan SOR requirement, full-time students may be eligible to borrow up to the full amount of their annual loan offer. If a student is enrolled less than full-time, they will not be eligible to borrow the full-time amount of loans offered to them. Instead, the university will calculate the amount of loan funding the student is eligible to receive based on the number of credits they are enrolled in at UConn.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If a federal student loan has been disbursed prior to a change in enrollment, adjustment may be made to a future loan disbursement within the same award year.\u202f For example, withdrawing from a course during the Fall semester will reduce the amount you are eligible for in the Spring.\u202f\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Schedule of Reductions determines the <\/span>maximum federal Direct Loan amount you may be eligible to borrow<\/span><\/b>. It does not guarantee that you will receive that amount.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your actual loan eligibility may be lower based on your cost of attendance, other financial aid, previous borrowing, remaining annual or aggregate loan eligibility, and other federal eligibility requirements. Also note that all federal loans are subject to origination fees.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You also do not have to borrow the full amount you are eligible to receive. Consider borrowing only what you need.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Graduate PLUS Loans<\/h2>\n
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  • This program is being phased out beginning July 1, 2026, and the program will not be available for new borrowers (i.e., students who have not borrowed direct federal loans for their current graduate program).<\/li>\n
  • For those who have borrowed federal loans for their current graduate program and have remained continuously enrolled, you may have continued eligibility to apply for Graduate PLUS Loan for the lesser of the next three academic years or until you have reached the expected time to credential.\n
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    • For instance, if the published program length of your program is two years and you have only been enrolled for one year, you may have one year left in eligibility for the Graduate PLUS loan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      New Loan Limits for Professional Students<\/h2>\n
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      • New professional students may borrow up to $50,000 annually from the Unsubsidized loan program. As of December 2025, the following programs at UConn are considered professional per the proposed federal definition: Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dental Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, and Juris Doctor.<\/li>\n
      • A new lifetime borrowing limit of $200,000 for professional study.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        New Lifetime Loan Limit for Graduate Students<\/h2>\n
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        • All other graduate programs have an annual loan limit of $20,500, which remains unchanged from prior years.<\/li>\n
        • A new lifetime borrowing limit of $100,000 for graduate study.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Loan Reduction for Part-Time Enrollment<\/h2>\n
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          • Beginning July 1, 2026, a new loan reduction schedule will be in effect.<\/li>\n
          • Students at all grade levels, who enroll in credits deemed less than the full-time minimum (9 credits for Graduate\/Professional except for Pharmacy and 12 credits for undergraduates\/Pharmacy) may have their loans prorated. Loans are no longer tied to enrollment status, but now must be prorated based on credits, similar to the Federal Pell Grant program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Our office anticipates receiving more detailed information in late Spring 2026 and will update this page once it is made available.<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            ________________________________________________________________________________________________ President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on July 4, 2025. While major elements\u2014such as changes to federal student loans, eligibility caps, and new accountability measures\u2014are now legally effective July 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education has not yet released detailed implementation guidelines. We are closely monitoring policy updates, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4306","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-30 12:25:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/607"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4306"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4325,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4306\/revisions\/4325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/financial-aid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}