Professional Degree Access Restoration Act

Key Points

• This bill would reverse recent cuts to federal loan availability for graduate and professional students. It amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to undo reductions enacted under Public Law 119-21, which had lowered how much graduate students could borrow through federal loan programs.
• The bill restores annual and aggregate borrowing limits for graduate and professional students by removing caps that were recently imposed. It strikes provisions that had set new lower limits on Federal Direct loans for periods of instruction beginning on or after June 30, 2026.
• The legislation also eliminates a recently added subparagraph and paragraph that had restructured how graduate and professional student loans worked, effectively restoring the previous, more generous federal loan framework.
• The bill was introduced by Senator Alsobrooks along with 12 Democratic co-sponsors and has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. As a minority-party bill in the current Congress, it faces a steep climb to passage.