Parent PLUS Loan Limits

With One Bg Beautiful Bill, federal regulations for Parent PLUS loans have been updated to ensure equitable access to financial aid and better manage aggregate student loan debt. Under these new guidelines, effective on July 1, 2026, and beyond, the total annual borrowing by all parents on behalf of a single dependent undergraduate student is capped at $20,000 per year, with a new lifelong aggregate borrowing limit of $65,000 per student.

  • Combined Parent Borrowing Limits:
    • Annual limit: $20,000/year across all parents for a dependent student, regardless of loan forgiveness, repayment, or discharge amounts
    • Aggregate limit: $65,000/lifetime across all parents for a dependent student (per enrollment).
  • Interim Exception Rules:
    • Students qualifying under interim provisions may still be packaged using current Direct Loan limits if eligible.
  • NSLDS Dependency:
    • Initial release will not included aggregate limit calculations that depend on the new NSLDS data to assess remaining borrowing eligibility. The aggregate calculation will only look at loan data within SFA.

In order to prevent over-borrowing, and streamline compliance with regulatory requirements, a new configuration script will be introduced to determine Direct Loan eligibility and loan limits impacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill. This approach has been made configurable to enable rapid adaptation to any future updates from the Department of Education.

New OB3 Criteria configuration:

  • New OB3_Criteria configuration script was added to existing FAS_FUND_CONFIG.csv starting with the 2026-27 Award Year, and will run on a per term basis at each repackage of Direct Loans.
  • This script has access to the same data as Awarding_Override_Criteria and will be able to access the results of Awarding_Override_Criteria script, including the new "Loan Limit Exception Indicator" and ED data
    • To access the Loan Limit Exception data from ED, the following bindings are accessible
      • isirRecord.getField(IsirField.NSLDS_LOANLIMITEXCEPTIONFLAG).get() binding will allow you to access the "NSLDS Loan Limit Exception Flag" field received by ISIR
    • To access the calculated "Loan Limit Exception Indicator" set in Awarding_Override_Criteria script, the following binding is accessible
      • awardInfo.isLoanLimitException() binding will allow you to access the new "Loan Limit Exception Indicator" field set in Awarding_Override_Criteria script
    • To access new "NSLDS Aggregate Parent PLUS Loan Total" data from ED, the following bindings are accessible
      • isirRecord.getField(IsirField.NSLDS_AGGREGATEPARENTPLUSLOANTOTAL.get() binding will allow you to access the "NSLDS Aggregate Parent PLUS Loan Total" field received by ISIR
  • Additionally, you will be able to set the following values within the configuration script
    • "Parent PLUS Loan Limit" by using awardInfo.withParentPlusLoanLimit()
    • "Parent PLUS Annual Remaining Eligibility" by using awardInfo.withParentPlusAnnualRemainingEligibility()
    • "Parent PLUS Aggregate Remaining Eligibility" by using awardInfo.withParentPlusAggregateRemainingEligibility()

Delivered Baseline Logic:

  • Logic will use the new "Loan Limit Exception Indicator" set in Awarding_Override_Criteria to determine if the student qualifies under the interim exception rule. Refer to Loan Limit Exception Management for further details
  • New Loan Limits:
    • If the student's "Loan Limit Exception Indicator" is null (if it was not set in Awarding_Override_Criteria) or No, the configuration will calculate Parent PLUS eligibility based on new limits. 
      • The configuration will set the "Parent PLUS Loan Limit" to be $20,000 and return using awardInfo.withParentPlusLoanLimit(20000)
        • Since the Parent PLUS loan annual loan limit of $20,000 is enforced for all parents combined per dependent student for loans, the logic will then check to see if there are any other Parent PLUS loans with different fund code extensions included in the student's package with higher priority and subtract them.
          • The configuration will set the "Parent PLUS Annual Remaining Eligibility" to be $20,000 - (Sum of Higher Priority PLUS Funds), and return using awardInfo.withParentPlusAnnualRemainingEligibility()
      • Calculate Parent PLUS Aggregate Remaining Eligibility as: $65,000 – Amount Packaged in SFA in Prior Terms
        • The configuration will set the calculated "Parent PLUS Aggregate Remaining Eligibility" by using awardInfo.withParentPlusAggregateRemainingEligibility()
  • Existing Loans Remain Valid:
    • If the student's "Loan Limit Exception Indicator" is Yes, the logic will not apply a historical limit and assumes maximum eligibility.

UI Improvements:

Several UI enhancements were made to display the new Parent PLUS loan limit data providing clear visibility for staff of student loan status.

  • Fund Eligibility UI (View Only)
    • Navigation: Packaging > Fund Eligibility > Direct Loan
    • Within the Fund Eligibility popup, users with "Fund Eligibility Viewer" have a comprehensive overview of the Direct Loan eligibility details, including:
      • New Parent PLUS Loan Limit (by Academic Year):
        • Displays the Parent PLUS Loan limit, representing the Initial Maximum Loan Limit (Application Loan from PLUS application or Maximum Loan amount (COA-EFA)). This value is settable and evaluated through configuration scripts (OB3/Award Override). 
      • New Parent PLUS Annual Remaining Eligibility (by Academic Year):
        • Displays the annual remaining eligibility after accounting for higher-priority PLUS loans from other borrowers. This value is settable and evaluated through configuration scripts (OB3/Award Override). 
      • New Parent PLUS Aggregate Remaining Eligibility (by Academic Year):
        • Displays the aggregate remaining eligibility, accounting for awards received at prior schools and/or in prior academic years within the program. This value is settable and evaluated through configuration scripts (OB3/Award Override)

Reporting Improvements:

The resulting "Parent PLUS Loan Limit", "Parent PLUS Annual Remaining Eligibility", and "Parent PLUS Aggregate Remaining Eligibility" are available through reporting and extract views. 

Business Value

This feature ensures compliance with updated federal Parent PLUS loan regulations, standardizes borrowing limits across parents, and reduces financial risk by preventing over-borrowing for dependent students.

Steps to enable and configure

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Student Financial Aid

  • Update Configuration Scripts:
    • Review baseline configuration for new Parent PLUS loan limits posted on Cloud Customer Connect, and update your configuration.
      • To get started, ensure that "Configuration Administration" Permission is enabled and download your existing configuration from Oracle Student Financial Aid within Administration > Configuration Administration > Download.
      • This configuration will include the pre-populated system data and include the new column, which you can then update as needed.
        • Update FAS_FUND_CONFIG.cvs to add the delivered baseline groovy script for OB3_Criteria.
          • Note: We do not expect you will need to update the logic related to Parent PLUS based on any institutional policies.
        • If you are already using a configuration approach to handle these students as outlined One Big Beautiful Bill (OB3) - Interim Exception Document + PLUS Loan Program Updates, update FAS_FUND_CONFIG.cvs to remove this logic from Awarding_Override_Criteria.
      • Navigate to Administration > Configuration Administration, and upload your zipped configuration
  • Repackage Students:
    • After successful testing in non production, you will need to load in your updated configuration to production, then repackage your students with Parent PLUS to adjust their funding as needed.
      • Divide your bulk repackaging operation into manageable groups, taking into consideration processing windows, communication needs, and the availability of supporting resources. This approach will ensure you are well-equipped to assist students whose inquiries arise as a result of the repackaging process.
  • Submission to COD:
    • When you are ready to begin awarding and originating Direct Loans for the 2026-27 Award Year, follow the steps to enable within 2026-2027 Award Year Packaging Updates and 2026-2027 Award Year COD File Updates.

Tips and considerations

  • No Expected Logic Customization Needed: It is not expected that you will need to update or customize the base logic for Parent PLUS Annual limits, as these regulatory requirements are federally mandated and not subject to institutional policy variations. The delivered solution provides standardized enforcement to eliminate the need for local configuration changes for this aspect.
  • Future implementation: Initial release will not included aggregate limit calculations that depend on the new NSLDS data to assess remaining borrowing eligibility. The aggregate calculation will only look at loan data within SFA. You can use the NSLDS Aggregate Limit report to identify students to review students who are approaching or exceeding new aggregate limits.
    •  Updated Configuration Approach (not included in initial 26B baseline configuration):
      • You can adjust the Parent PLUS Aggregate Remaining Eligibility in the OB3 Criteria to account for the NSLDS_AGGREGATEPARENTPLUSLOANTOTAL ISIR data
    • Manual Approach:
      • Configure a disbursement criteria to prevent disbursing if student has the NSLDS_PARENTPLUSLOANLIMITFLAG on the ISIR as C or E
      • If you need to disburse prior to release, adjust amounts packaged per term within packaging then override new disbursement criteria
  • OB3 Criteria Defaults: If OB3 Criteria is not configured, the system will default to using the existing Direct Loan limits that were in effect prior to the implementation of One Big Beautiful Bill, ensuring continuity of operations and preventing unintended enforcement of the new Parent PLUS loan limits in the absence of updated configuration.
  • Missing or Incomplete ED Data: If NSLDS or ISIR is unavailable or incomplete, the logic will default to treating the student as having full aggregate eligibility; no reduction will be applied on the basis of historical borrowing.
  • Migrating from Interim Configuration Approach: If you are already using a configuration approach to handle these students as outlined One Big Beautiful Bill (OB3) - Interim Exception Document + PLUS Loan Program Updates, please remove this logic from awarding override criteria.

Key resources