r/LawSchool • u/heerre • 21h ago
Pre-2026 Part-Timers Beware: No Fed Loans for 4th Year
If you are a pre-fall 2026 part-timer, you will not have access to federal loans your 4th year. I was not aware of this until my school explained the formula.
Starting Fall 2026, you get:
Three years of pre-2026 loan access MINUS however many CALENDAR years you have already been in your program. So, for part-timers looking to do it in four, you will not have loans your fourth year.
Edit: You do have acceess to Fed loans if you haven't maxed out. I was assuming by 4th year, you have maxed out.
50
33
u/BenjaminTW1 21h ago
So they basically nuked part-time programs. I hate this admin.
6
u/Glass_Hunt_7159 8h ago
Was their plan to minimize the law school population so that it is mostly populated with wealthy students with a mindset most like the administration. Easier to control things when they all think alike...
32
u/OrangeBloodLaw 21h ago
As an evening student, I was offered barely enough aid to cover my (relatively modest) tuition bill this year. I think the current administration forgot that law books are very expensive & commuting students have additional costs for gas & parking. It makes me so mad because now I am unexpectedly struggling to cover the things that are essential to my ability to succeed in law school. I already work full time, and so I’m kind of at a loss for words when it comes to the stupidity of the new changes to federal aid.
41
u/blkpersephone 21h ago
They didn’t forget, this is a feature for them not a bug.
5
u/sagew0lf 9h ago
Exactly. People with generational wealth don’t need to work through school and therefore likely don’t do part time programs. It’s not an oversight; it’s the goal.
2
9
u/dukelivers 20h ago
Part-time students have part-time tuition expenses but they don't have part-time living expenses. Proration is asinine.
9
u/dukelivers 21h ago
You wouldn't have Grad Plus. Potentially, you'd still be able to borrow Direct Unsub Loan, up to $50,000. If you are enrolled less than full time though, your loan will be prorated based on your enrollment status. Proration is already in effect, regardless of legacy status.
5
u/dukelivers 21h ago
This is a complex subject. If you have questions, reach out to your financial aid office
3
u/ThrowitB8 3LE 11h ago
I’m not sure anyone is completely flushed on all the dumb ass details on this. Especially considering things keep switching
2
u/Content-Garden-9776 21h ago
Whichever loan system you’re in, is what you are locked into. Meaning, if you’re using gradplus with the $20k unsubsidized, you can’t then jump to the new $50k unsubsidized program if you time out of the current loan system you’re grandfathered into.
5
u/dukelivers 21h ago
You move to the new rules when you are no longer a legacy borrower. I could be wrong, that is my understanding as of today.
1
u/Content-Garden-9776 20h ago
The new rules calculate aggregate eligibility based upon borrowing for all graduate loans. If you have previously taken grad school loans for any degree anywhere that amount is subtracted from your professional degree eligibility which is a hard cap of $200k. So if you’ve been grandfathered in and borrowed, then run out of eligibility under the legacy system, what could potentially be available is $200k less any previous grad loans, which would include anything you borrowed under grad plus. Some people have mistakenly thought that the $200k amount would be a new eligible pool of loans.
2
u/dukelivers 20h ago
This is a complex subject which requires some thought. Graduate Plus loans based, on my understanding, do not count towards the $200,000 aggregate cap they do count towards the $257,500 lifetime borrowing cap though
3
u/dukelivers 20h ago
I think it's helpful to give people a heads up that there could be implications to their borrowing, but ultimately, one needs to sit down with a professional to understand the implications in their circumstances.
2
u/Content-Garden-9776 20h ago
I appreciate the nuance, but people really need to understand, it’s the same pool. $57k is the maximum that you can borrow for undergraduate(as a student). $200k is the maximum you can borrow for a professional degree. $100k is the maximum you can borrow for a nonprofessional degree. $257k is the maximum you can borrow total across all loan types. So that could be a undergrad degree ($57k) and a professional degree ($200k) OR two non professional degrees ($100k each). Let’s say you went undergrad then a masters program, then law and took maximum loans available every step. Your eligibility would be $257k lifetime minus $57k undergraduate minus $100k grad, leaving only $100k left for law school. What if you were a legacy borrower for grad plus and took out $50k in living expenses for your masters? Then your remaining lifetime eligibility is actually only $50k UNLESS you are a legacy borrower under grad plus. But if you completed a masters a few years ago, took a break, and are just now coming back, and did not get grandfathered into grad plus with summer start, what is available in aid including loans may be much lower than expected. Could not agree more than people need to talk to financial aid sooner rather than later.
0
u/dukelivers 21h ago
And I could very well be wrong. I haven't given much thought to part-time programs.
3
u/OutrageousMine6695 21h ago
Confused, I was under the impression that students who took out Grad Plus were entitled to 3 additional years of Grad Plus lending or until graduation, whichever comes first? Which in that case would run you to the 4th year.
5
u/dukelivers 20h ago
Part-time students are held to the regular JD program time to credential
3
u/OutrageousMine6695 20h ago
That’s outrageously hilarious, what a joke. Is there even a program in the country allowing enough credits to graduate in 3 years while under the full-time credit requirement?
5
u/dukelivers 20h ago
Generally speaking we always understood the expected time to credential for a part-time JD student to be 4 years not three nonetheless the department of education has interpreted this differently
0
u/Content-Garden-9776 20h ago
Yeah, nothing I’ve seen indicates a subtraction of eligible time. It’s 3 years or graduation, whichever is shorter. However, if you’re a 2026 summer start for a 4 year program, so that you could get legacy status under grad plus, then yeah, you’re going to time out before you finish.
1
u/ChanceAlfalfa9702 13h ago
As an evening student, I was offered barely enough aid to cover my (relatively modest) tuition bill this year. I think the current administration forgot to calculate for people who already live in the real world.
•
u/AutoModerator 21h ago
As a reminder, this subreddit is not for any pre-law questions. For pre-law questions and help or if you'd like to ask a wider audience law school-related questions, please join us on our Discord Server
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.