FAFSA no longer shows my grad student loan eligibility amount of $20,500 - system change?

Yes, this is a new change with the 2025-2026 FAFSA. The system no longer displays specific loan eligibility amounts on the confirmation page. Instead, they're moving that information to your official SAI (Student Aid Index) report and your school's financial aid package. The loans are still available - they just don't pre-approve you on the confirmation screen anymore. Your school's financial aid office will process your FAFSA data and include the loans in your aid package if you're still meeting the eligibility criteria.

i had the EXACT same thing happen!!! been in my masters program for 3 semesters and always saw the loan amount before. submitted last week and was like wait where did it go????? was worried my eligibility changed somehow

The whole FAFSA system keeps changing for the worse every year. First they delay the application release by months, then they make a more "streamlined" form that somehow takes LONGER to complete, and now they're hiding loan eligibility information? It's like they intentionally want to make financial aid more confusing. I'm also a grad student and am dealing with the same issue. My financial aid office is totally overwhelmed with calls about these changes.

I've been trying to get answers about this exact issue from the Federal Student Aid helpline for THREE DAYS now. Keep getting stuck on hold for 2+ hours then disconnected. Super frustrating when you just need a simple answer about whether your loan eligibility has changed or not. Has anyone successfully gotten through to FSA recently?

I actually managed to get through to FSA on my first try using Claimyr (claimyr.com). They have this service that holds your place in the FSA phone line and calls you back when an agent is available. There's a video demo that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent I spoke with confirmed that grad student loan eligibility hasn't changed - still $20,500 per academic year in unsubsidized loans. The only change is that they're not displaying this on the FAFSA confirmation screen anymore. Your school's financial aid office will include it in your aid package after processing your FAFSA data and SAI.

To answer your question about timing: SAI processing is taking about 5-7 days for most students with the new system. Once your school receives your FAFSA data, they'll put together your aid package including the loans. Most schools automatically include the full $20,500 for grad students, but some might require you to accept or request them through their financial aid portal. I'd recommend checking your school's specific process. Also, since you're in a doctoral program, don't forget to check if you're eligible for any departmental funding, assistantships, or fellowships that might reduce how much you need to borrow.

wait i just realized something - does anyone know if the grad plus loans are still available too? i need those on top of the regular 20500 because my program is super expensive

my cousin did her fafsa last month and said the same thing happened with her undergrad loans too. they just changed how they show everything i guess

Thanks everyone for the clarification! Definitely relieved to know my loan eligibility hasn't changed and it's just a display issue with the new system. I'll wait for my SAI to process and then follow up with my school's financial aid office if I don't see the loans included in my package. Graduate school is expensive enough without having to worry about surprise changes to financial aid!

Just wanted to add that I'm experiencing the same thing as a first-year grad student. I was really confused when I didn't see the loan amounts displayed like my friends told me to expect. Reading through this thread has been super helpful - it's reassuring to know that the eligibility is still there and it's just a system display change. I'll make sure to follow up with my financial aid office in a few weeks once they receive my FAFSA data. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

I'm so glad I found this thread! I submitted my FAFSA for my master's program last week and had the exact same panic when I didn't see the loan amount displayed. I've been relying on those loans for my first year and was terrified something had changed with my eligibility. It's really frustrating that they made this change without better communication - I spent hours googling and couldn't find any clear information about it. Thanks to everyone who called FSA and shared what they learned. Now I know to just wait for my SAI and check with my school's financial aid office. This community is so helpful for navigating all these confusing changes!

I'm experiencing this exact same issue! Just submitted my FAFSA for my second year of my master's program and was completely thrown off when I didn't see the usual loan eligibility information on the confirmation screen. Last year it clearly showed the $20,500 amount, so I was worried something had gone wrong with my application or that my eligibility had somehow changed. It's such a relief to read through everyone's experiences here and learn that it's just a system display change rather than an actual change to loan availability. I really wish they had communicated this change better - it would have saved a lot of unnecessary stress! Now I'll just wait for my SAI to process and follow up with my financial aid office. Thanks everyone for sharing your insights and for those who took the time to call FSA directly!

I'm dealing with this exact same issue as a first-year PhD student! Just submitted my FAFSA last week and was really confused when I didn't see the loan eligibility amount displayed like I was expecting based on what other grad students had told me. I was starting to worry that maybe I had made an error on my application or that something had changed with my eligibility status. Reading through all these responses has been incredibly reassuring - it's clear that this is just a system display change and not an actual change to loan availability. It's really frustrating that they didn't communicate this change better to students beforehand, especially since so many of us rely on these loans to fund our education. I'll wait for my SAI to process and then check with my school's financial aid office. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and especially to those who took the time to call FSA directly to get official confirmation!