About This OBBBA Resource
An independent reference hub for students, parents, and financial aid professionals navigating the federal student aid changes introduced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21).
What This Site Does
FAFSA Updates translates the legislative text and FSA guidance of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into plain-English explanations and interactive calculators. Every figure is checked against official Federal Student Aid sources (how the numbers are checked).
The site covers the primary OBBBA provisions effective July 1, 2026: Parent PLUS loan caps, Graduate PLUS loan elimination, the $257,500 lifetime loan maximum, the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), Workforce Pell Grants for short-term job training, and the legacy borrower (interim exception) rules. It also covers related changes that aren't OBBBA provisions, such as the end of the SAVE plan and each year's FAFSA deadlines.
Interactive Calculators
RAP vs. Legacy IDR Comparator
Side-by-side monthly payment and lifetime cost comparison across RAP, IBR, PAYE, and ICR using the OBBBA AGI-based RAP formula and 2026 poverty guidelines.
FAFSA Legacy Borrower Status Checker
Step-by-step questionnaire that estimates whether a student (and a parent borrowing for them) likely still qualifies for the interim exception to the new loan caps. The school makes the final determination.
Federal Pell Grant Eligibility Calculator
Estimates the 2026-27 full-time Pell Grant from the Student Aid Index (SAI), with an example table.
Parent PLUS Loan Gap Calculator
Quantifies the annual funding gap when the OBBBA $20,000/yr cap falls short of Cost of Attendance.
Workforce Pell Grant Screener
Checks whether a short-term career program meets the OBBBA Workforce Pell length, approval, and student eligibility rules.
All calculators are client-side only. No data you enter is transmitted to any server.
Operator
Moises Lopez
Educator · 10+ years LAUSD & nonprofit · Independent FAFSA Researcher
My name is Moises Lopez. I spent over a decade as an educator — teaching and working in student support roles across Los Angeles Unified School District and several nonprofits serving underrepresented youth. During that time, I watched students and families struggle every year with the FAFSA: missing deadlines they didn't know existed, misreading aid letters, leaving money on the table. Federal student aid shapes a lot of young people's choices about college, and it is rarely explained in plain language.
I built this site in response to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which made major changes to federal student aid. The new Parent PLUS caps, Repayment Assistance Plan, Workforce Pell track, and legacy borrower rules affect a lot of families — and when the law passed, I couldn't find plain-English explanations that covered them. I read the statutory text of P.L. 119-21, the FSA Dear Colleague Letters, and the NASFAA guidance directly, and built this resource so that the people I used to teach — and their parents — could actually understand what changed and what it means for them.
This site is an independent personal project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid (FSA), LAUSD, or any government agency. It is not a law firm, financial advisory service, or official aid counseling resource.
Contact
If you have questions about the data used on this site or want to suggest an update, use the contact form.
How the Numbers Are Checked
Every figure on this site (loan caps, Pell amounts, interest rates, deadlines) is kept in one reference list that feeds every article and calculator, so a corrected number changes everywhere at once. Each entry is checked against the statute and official government sources, chiefly Federal Student Aid's Dear Colleague Letters, Electronic Announcements, and studentaid.gov.
When guidance changes, the affected articles show an "Updated" date and the change is logged on the Updates page, including corrections. Sources:
Always verify current Federal Direct Loan limits and repayment plan options at studentaid.gov before making financial decisions.
Policy data last updated: September 26, 2026. Site legislation reference: P.L. 119-21 (H.R. 1), signed July 4, 2025.