States Expand Graduate Loan Programs as G.O.P. Bill Ends Graduate PLUS for New Borrowers
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 17
States Expand Graduate Loan Programs as G.O.P. Bill Ends Graduate PLUS for New Borrowers
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 17
Summary
Minnesota and Connecticut expanded state student loan programs from July 1 to help graduate students cover funding gaps left by the end of federal Graduate PLUS loans for new borrowers.
Graduate students who exhaust federal Stafford loans—generally capped at $20,500 a year and $138,500 total—previously used Graduate PLUS to borrow up to a school’s full cost of attendance.
Without state options, many students would have to turn to private lenders, whose loans typically lack federal protections such as income-based repayment, payment pauses during hardship and some public-service cancellation benefits.
State loans are not automatic substitutes for federal debt, though, because each program sets its own terms and may not match federal borrower safeguards.
Graduate PLUS borrowers made up just 16% of graduate students in 2023 but accounted for nearly one-third of federal graduate lending, especially in costly fields such as law and health care.