A Leadership Brainery research tool
The new federal loan caps, program by program.
Starting July 2026, federal graduate borrowing is capped at $20,500/year for Master’s and Doctoral programs and $50,000/year for professional programs. Explore which programs already borrow above those caps: by field, by school, and by state.
Scope of the data
13,594 graduate programs · 1,539 U.S. institutions · 177 fields of study.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) 2025 report, covering academic years 2020–2023 (via The New York Times analysis). Compiled for Brainery.
Note: With pending litigation, some programs currently classified as Master’s or Doctoral may be reclassified as Professional, which would change how they are grouped here and the accuracy of this tool.
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