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Professional Degree Access Restoration Act
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reverse the reductions in Federal loan availability for graduate and professional students enacted under Public Law 119-21.
Summary
This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reverse reductions in federal student loan availability for graduate and professional students that were enacted under a prior law. The bill modifies Section 455(a) of the Higher Education Act to restore previous loan limits for graduate and professional degree students. The bill strikes provisions that had imposed reduced loan limits on graduate and professional students beginning July 1, 2012. The bill makes technical and conforming amendments to other related sections of the Higher Education Act to reflect the restoration of previous loan limits. The effect of the bill is to increase federal loan availability for students pursuing graduate and professional degrees by reverting to pre-restriction loan limits.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
17 cosponsors
- Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (D-CT)
- Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
- Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA] (D-WA)
- Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE)
- Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL] (D-IL)
- Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA] (D-VA)
- Sen. Kim, Andy [D-NJ] (D-NJ)
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM)
- Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (D-MA)
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] (D-CA)
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
- Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD] (D-MD)
- Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] (D-OR)
Actions (2)
- Mar 10, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- Mar 10, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 10, 2026
Ms. Alsobrooks (for herself, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Kim, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Smith, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, and Mr. Lujan) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reverse the reductions in Federal loan availability for graduate and professional students enacted under Public Law 119-21.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Professional Degree Access Restoration Act”.
SEC. 2. ANNUAL AND AGGREGATE LOAN LIMITS FOR GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS.
(a) In General.—Section 455(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(a)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (3)—
(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking “and federal direct plus loans”;
(B) in subparagraph (A)—
(i) by striking the heading for subparagraph (A), and inserting the following: “In general”;
(ii) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting before the dash at the end the following: “, for any period of instruction beginning on or after July 1, 2012”;
(iii) in clause (i), by striking “for any period of instruction beginning on or after July 1, 2012,”; and
(iv) in clause (ii), by striking “for any period of instruction beginning on July 1, 2012, and ending on June 30, 2026,”; and
(C) by striking subparagraph (C); and
(2) by striking paragraph (4), and redesignating paragraphs
(5) through (8) as paragraphs (4) through (7), respectively.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.—Section 455(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(a)), as amended by subsection (a), is further amended—
(1) in paragraph (4), as redesignated by subsection (a)(2), by striking “paragraph (8)” and inserting “paragraph (7)” both places the term appears;
(2) in paragraph (5), as redesignated by subsection (a)(2), by striking “paragraph (8)” and inserting “paragraph (7)”; and
(3) in paragraph (7), as redesignated by subsection (a)(2), by striking “Paragraphs (3)(C), (4), (5), and (6) shall not apply, and paragraph (3)(A)(ii) shall apply as such paragraph was in effect for periods of instruction ending before June 30, 2026,” and inserting “(4), and (5)” and inserting “Paragraphs (4) and (5) shall not apply”. <all>
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