Effects of the Elimination of the Grad PLUS Loan Program on Student Pharmacist Borrowers.

OBJECTIVE: Federal bill H.R.1. eliminates Grad PLUS loans and changes borrowing limits for Direct Unsubsidized loans for professional students, including PharmD students. The study evaluates total gap in pharmacy school cost of attendance (CoA), that would previously have been addressed by a Grad PLUS loan, after applying the new federal Direct Unsubsidized loan limit. METHODS: Secondary data analysis was conducted of publicly available CoA data for colleges of pharmacy (COPs) within the U.S. 2025-26 tuition and fees and indirect expenses were collected from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and website of each COP's university, respectively, to calculate CoA for each COP. Annual cost gap (difference between annual CoA and Direct Unsubsidized annual loan limit of $50,000) for each year of each program was summed to calculate total cost gap. Kruskal Wallis one-way ANOVA was conducted to assess effects of program classification (public in-state, public out-of-state, private 4-year, and private 3-year) on total cost gap. RESULTS: 133 COPs were included. Median total cost gap of public in-state PharmD programs ($17,948) was significantly lower compared to public out-of-state ($68,214), private 4-year ($102,087), and private 3-year ($132,609) programs. Median total cost gap of public out-of-state programs was significantly lower versus private 4-year and 3-year programs. CONCLUSION: Loss of Grad PLUS loans may pose a significant financial barrier to pharmacy education. COPs should utilize multiple strategies to address students' financial challenges including federal and state advocacy, private loan options, tuition reduction, philanthropy, financial assistance partnerships, and loan repayment and forgiveness programs.