My wife is an MD/PhD student, she is in a program where you do the first 2 years of medical school, then do your PhD training, then come back for the last 2 years of the MD. She did her 2 years of Medical school and she is finishing up her PhD this semester,and that has taken 6 years.

This is a relatively new program at her school, she is only the 2nd student there to do this, so there have been a lot of learning pains. Now that she is completing the PhD requirements and going back to Medical school, the schools financial Aid office is telling us that there is a cap of the number of years a student can get Financial Aid, and this is a Federal requirement.

I have not been able to verify that information, and since this is a small school and we have had several issues with some of the administration staff there, I certainly want to get a second opinion.

So, is there a limit of the number of years you can borrow student loans? And another related question, is there a cap of the Amount you can borrow? I believe the Federal cap is $250,000 but does that allow you borrow private loans also?

Thank you,

Wow, the wifey is big into the education, no?  There are specific borrowing limits for specific federal loans that vary depending on a student’s status, year of enrollment, and degree program.  There are also lifetime limits.  I’m not sure what the answer is to the time limit question - that’s unusual.  I’ll do a bit of research and see what I can find.

Thanks for the reply Heather, and yes, she is really big into education . Is there 1 place Online that would be the authoritative answer to questions about borrowing limits? Who actually governs and mandates those limits? I am usually pretty good with web searches, but finding this information on government web sites has been extremely frustrating.

Thank you again,