DPT loan limits for 2026: paying for physical therapy school

Classification: graduate under the May 2026 final rule; treated as professional while a federal court’s June 24, 2026 stay lasts. Your school may still apply the graduate limit.

Graduate or professional?

Physical therapy is not one of the eleven fields in 34 CFR 685.102(b), so under the final rule DPT students are graduate students: $20,500 a year and $100,000 in total. During the court stay, the Department’s list includes “Physical Therapy/Therapist (PT; DPT),” so schools may award up to $50,000 a year and $200,000 in total, though the Department suggested they consider keeping the graduate limit. Occupational therapy, audiology, speech-language pathology and athletic training programs are on the same temporary list.

On June 24, 2026, a federal court in Washington, D.C. temporarily stayed part of the definition, in a lawsuit brought by organizations representing nurse practitioners and physician associates. The stay suspended the tests in paragraph (i) of the definition: doctoral level, six years of study, licensure and the same four-digit CIP code as a listed field. The Department of Education responded with Electronic Announcement GENERAL-26-42 on June 29, 2026, updated July 10 and October 30, listing the programs it treats as professional “for the duration of the Court’s stay.” That list adds physician assistant, physical therapy, occupational therapy, audiology, speech-language pathology, athletic training, anesthesiologist assistant, MSN, DNP and nurse anesthesia (DNAP) programs, and, after a separate October 16 injunction, naturopathic medicine.

The Department also told schools they “may wish to consider” limiting loans for these temporarily added programs to the graduate caps “to mitigate potential disruption to student borrowers,” and said the designations “may change as litigation in the cases proceeds.” The briefing in the D.C. case is scheduled to close on December 4, 2026, and no date has been set for a final decision. So during the stay, your loan limit depends partly on your school. Ask the financial aid office which limit it uses.

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 dPT school costs

CAPTE’s aggregate data for DPT programs (students graduating in 2025) show a mean total program cost of $74,348 for in-state students at public programs and $129,942 at private programs. That total excludes meals, housing and clinical travel. Mean annual tuition was $22,498 for in-state students at public programs and $48,132 at private programs, and programs averaged 122.6 weeks.

So tuition alone at an average private DPT program is more than twice the $20,500 graduate limit, before any living costs.

Worked example

Illustration only: a three-year private DPT program with private-program tuition near the CAPTE mean plus living costs, for a budget of $75,000 a year and no scholarship. Use your program’s published budget.

Under the graduate limit, federal loans put $60,849 toward the $225,000 need after the 1.057% origination fee, leaving $164,151. If the school applies the professional limit during the court stay, the gap falls to $76,587. If the stay ends and the program goes back to graduate status, plan on the larger number for the years that remain.

• Open this example in the calculator with graduate limits
• Same example with professional limits

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.

A DPT student who completed the first year by June 30, 2026 with a Direct Loan for the program has about two years left, so the exception, including Grad PLUS, 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. Compare public in-state programs: the CAPTE data show their total cost averages about $55,000 less than private programs. 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).
• Employer help. Some hospitals and health systems offer tuition assistance or sign-on loan repayment to physical therapists. Ask about it before accepting a job.
• 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).