Question:  We have a senior, undergraduate, independent student who already has borrowed the former aggregate Stafford loan limit of $46,000. He plans to graduate in May 2009 with an undergraduate degree. For his senior year, is he eligible to borrow $12,500, the new annual loan limit for his grade level for Stafford loans?

Answer:  The student is eligible for up to $11,500 in additional Stafford loan funds for that year.

Under recently enacted federal student loan limits, the new aggregate loan limit for the student is $57,500. No more than $23,000 of that aggregate amount may be in subsidized Stafford loans.

Because the borrower already has a total of $46,000 in Stafford loans, $11,500 is the amount of eligibility that remains to reach the new aggregate limit of $57,500. If the student already has obtained $23,000 in subsidized Stafford loan funds, the entire additional $11,500 in Stafford loan funding for which the borrower now is eligible must be in the form of unsubsidized loans.