Optometry school loan limits for 2026: OD

Classification: professional under the May 2026 final rule, and unchanged by the court stay.

Graduate or professional?

Optometry (O.D.) is one of the eleven professional fields named in 34 CFR 685.102(b) and stays professional during the court stay, so new optometry students get $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total in Direct Unsubsidized Loans.

Federal loan limits that apply

Every loan is also limited to cost of attendance minus other financial assistance (34 CFR 685.203(j)), loans for less-than-full-time enrollment are reduced in proportion (685.203(m)), and schools may set lower limits for a whole program.

What optometry school costs

The Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry reports that in 2025–26 the average first-year tuition for a resident O.D. student was $31,531 at public schools and $46,039 at private schools. Average first-year direct expenses, which add fees, books and instruments, were $39,881 and $52,010, and average nine-month rent and food was $15,496 at public and $19,212 at private schools.

ASCO also reports that 2024–25 graduates with debt owed an average of $209,280 in graduate and professional educational debt, a figure it notes is incomplete because not every school reports.

First-year cost at selected optometry schools, 2026–27

Official first-year budgets for 2026–27.

Cost of attendance as published by each school for the year shown, before grants and scholarships. The gap column subtracts the $49,471 that reaches the school from a $50,000 Unsubsidized Loan after the 1.057% fee, using the first cost column. Budgets differ in what they include (health insurance, summer terms, months covered); see the notes. Schools not listed did not publish a total we could verify.

Worked example

A student starts the four-year OD program at the New England College of Optometry in fall 2026 with a first-year budget of $83,266, held flat, and no scholarship.

Federal loans put $197,884 toward the $333,064 need over 4 years after $2,116 in origination fees, leaving $135,180 to cover with scholarships, savings, service programs or private loans.

Open this example in the graduate loan limits calculator and replace the figures with your own aid offer.

Already enrolled before July 1, 2026?

The old rules continue for you if you were enrolled in this program on June 30, 2026 and a Direct Loan for the program was disbursed before July 1, 2026. Any Direct Loan counts; you did not need a Grad PLUS loan. For your “expected time to credential,” the lesser of three academic years or the part of the program you had left on July 1, 2026, you keep $20,500 a year in Unsubsidized Loans, any higher health-profession Unsubsidized amounts your program had, Grad PLUS up to cost of attendance, and no lifetime limit (34 CFR 685.200(b)(2)(ii) and 685.203(b)(2)(iv)(B), (e)(6), (j)(3)). Withdrawing or leaving the program ends the exception. Afterward the new limits apply, and every loan you borrowed, including legacy Grad PLUS, counts toward the $257,500 lifetime limit.

An optometry student who completed the first year by June 30, 2026 with a Direct Loan for the program has three years left, so the exception covers the rest of the program.

The legacy checker applies the same enrollment and loan tests, and the graduate calculator models legacy years.

Ways to close the gap

• School aid first. Optometry schools and state optometric associations offer scholarships; ask about awards for second- and later-year students too. Ask the aid office whether it has changed institutional aid or set its own lower loan limits for your program; schools may now do that under 34 CFR 685.203(m)(2).
• Service programs. American Indian and Alaska Native students can apply to the Indian Health Service Scholarship. The military services have sponsored optometry students through their health professions scholarships in some years; check current openings with a recruiter.
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness. PSLF still forgives the remaining federal Direct Loan balance after 120 qualifying payments while working full time for a government or qualifying nonprofit employer. The final rule lists the new Repayment Assistance Plan as a qualifying repayment plan (34 CFR 685.219). It does not apply to private loans.
• Private student loans, last. Banks, credit unions, online lenders and some state agencies lend to graduate students, usually up to cost of attendance minus other aid. They are credit-based, so rates and fees vary and a cosigner may be needed. Compare APR, whether the rate is fixed or variable, in-school and post-graduation deferment, forbearance, and death and disability discharge. Federal loans keep income-driven repayment (the Repayment Assistance Plan) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness; private loans do not. We do not recommend specific lenders.

Compare other programs on the grad school loan limits hub: Medical school (MD, DO), Law school (JD), Dental school (DDS, DMD).