Time to Credential
A student’s time to credential is the published program length of their program minus the number of required semesters (fall and spring) that have passed since the student began the program. Whether or not the student actually enrolled in classes during these semesters does not change the time to credential period.
Exception: the summer semester is considered optional and is not counted in a student’s time to credential UNLESS the student attends the summer semester. Any summer semester a student attends will be counted in their time to credential.
What if I am not eligible for the legacy status?If you are a non-legacy student or a student who loses their Graduate PLUS Loan legacy status, you cannot borrow Graduate PLUS Loans after July 1, 2026. If a dependent student is considered non-legacy or loses their Parent PLUS Loan legacy status, their parent-borrower will be restricted to the new annual and aggregate limits on Parent PLUS Loan borrowing as of July 1, 2026.
The parent borrower can borrow up to $20,000 per academic year, per student
A student will have an aggregate limit of $65,000 in PLUS loans borrowed on their behalf.
Can you lose your legacy status?
Yes – there are 3 ways in which a student can lose their legacy status:
1. Change in Program of Study
For Parent PLUS, loss of legacy occurs when the student changes their program type. Example: a student enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program changes to an associate’s degree or certificate program – this would result in the student losing their legacy provision.
Changing a major/minor within the same program type will not cause loss of the Parent PLUS Loan legacy provision.
Example: switching from a bachelor’s degree in business to a bachelor’s degree in education.
For a Graduate PLUS loan, loss of legacy occurs when the student switches to a program outside of their current program’s four-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code. CIP codes are used by the U.S. Department of Education to identify and standardize academic programs
2. Failing to Maintain Continuous Enrollment
A student must be enrolled every fall and spring semester in each academic year. The summer semester is considered optional.
3. Completing a Total Withdrawal
Please review the Withdrawals webpage and our Financial Aid Withdrawal Policy for examples of a total withdrawal from a semester.
