Jorge Rios | THE RIDER
Adrian Hernandez/The Rider
UTRGV issued changes to student loan options and repayment plans on July 1, 2026, in compliance with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Students who take fewer than 12 credit hours, typically four courses, are considered part-time and remain eligible for federal loans, but their loan amounts are now reduced proportionally based on the number of credits hours they are taking, according to UTRGV’s website.
Felipe Olivarez, assistant director of Financial Aid, said the system only applied to seniors in their last semesters.
“What’s new with the One Big Beautiful Bill [Act] is the Department of Education is now asking us to do that for all the students regardless of their major, regardless of where they are at,” Olivarez said.
The Income-Based Repayment, Income-Contingent Repayment, Pay As You Earn and Saving on a Valuable Education repayment plans were replaced with the Repayment Assistance Program and Tiered Standard Repayment Plan, according to the university’s website.
Olivarez said “there should still be at least four to five payment options.”
Adrian Hernandez/The Rider
However, according to UTRGV’s website, this may only apply to borrowers who took out loans before July 1, 2026 who are still allowed to enroll in the IBR, Standard, Graduated and Extended repayment plans. Students with loans taken out on or after July 1, 2026 may be limited to RAP and Tiered Standard Repayment Plans.
By July 1, 2028, borrowers enrolled in ICR, PAYE or SAVE need to enroll in one of the two repayment plans.
Olivarez said “a majority had probably applied for the PAYE or SAVE program.” He added that changes could affect a majority of students repaying their student loans.
Starting July 1, 2027, students can no longer pause loan payments under economic hardship or unemployment deferment, according to UTRGV’s website.
“Well, that’s deeply problematic, especially in the current economic environment where it’s become a lot more difficult for people to find jobs,” said Mark Kaswan, a Political Science, Public Affairs, Legal and Security Studies professor.
Kaswan added that if the political landscape changes, then perhaps “we can see a reversal.”
Additionally, forbearance nine month limits and rehabilitating a loan twice will also be implemented.
Graduate student loans have a new yearly borrowing limit of $20,500, with a reduced program borrowing limit going from $138,500 to $100,000, according to the UTRGV website.
“Graduate students have a separate [$100,000] … before where it was [$138,000] made up of undergrad and grad combined,” Olivarez said.
He said the new plan will help graduate students who have never borrowed loans before.
“Excluding their undergraduate loans is now going to help them, where before under the old policy … whatever they borrowed before … counted towards the limit,” Olivarez said.
Professional student loans have a new yearly borrowing limit of $50,000 with a program borrowing limit of $200,000, according to UTRGV’s website.
Olivarez said that similar to graduate loans, professional student loans now also exclude undergraduate borrowing. However, undergraduate borrowing still counts towards lifetime loan limits.
Grad PLUS loans were a removed program that, depending on the student, could cover the rest of graduate tuition when loans did not fully cover it, according to UTRGV’s website.
“The grad PLUS loans was kind of, like, there to … fill in the gap in certain situations,” Olivarez said. “In case, you know, if the student maximized their aid during fall and spring.”
He added that students may depend more on private loans because of this.
Parent PLUS loans have a new yearly borrowing limit of $20,000 with a program limit of $65,000, according to UTRGV’s website.
“Before … parents could typically, if approved, borrow up to the students’ cost of attendance,” Olivarez said.
Derek Aspeitia, an electrical engineering sophomore, said this could be discouraging for students considering higher education.
“It would definitely affect people’s … want to dive into higher education beyond a bachelor’s degree,” Aspeitia said.
He said that several colleagues of his who graduated last spring will not pursue higher education to avoid financial stress.
Aspeitia added that getting a job with your current degree instead of pursuing higher education may be a more stable option now because of the changes.
