The professional degrees thing means I wouldn't have been able to get either one of my graduate degrees. Which, to their point, I am not using currently as no one could give a salty fuck about my education. So from a capitalist perspective I should have 1) not gotten the degree 2) paid for them out of pocket if I wanted to “grow” so fucking bad 3) an open handed smack in the mouth 4) get someone else to pay for it, which is what most people do for these sorts of degrees anyway. Which I think is the core point to this. Now, do I plan to SAY that to anyone? Fuck no. But I can get behind it. Quietly. See if Republicans didn't decide it was all about racism and oppression they'd have something but Colin Powell died during COVID.
Hey Claude, how fucked would I be if I were starting my MBA next year instead of 2010?
MBA Student in 2026: How It Works
An MBA applicant for 2026 would be classified as a graduate student, not professional, meaning they face the more restrictive limits. Here's the impact:
Annual limit: $20,500 per year (previously could borrow to full cost of attendance, often $60,000–$100,000+ at top programs)
Lifetime cap: $100,000 aggregate (doesn't include undergraduate borrowing)
What they can no longer do: The OBBBA eliminates the Grad PLUS program, which was the overflow funding mechanism. If their MBA costs $80,000/year at a prestigious program, they can now borrow only $20,500 federally—a gap of $59,500.
Their options to bridge that gap:
- Private loans (no federal protections, variable rates, requires credit approval)
- Pay out of pocket or work
- Scholarships/employer sponsorship
- Attend a lower-cost program
Important caveat on earnings thresholds: The OBBBA also includes a provision where schools will be punished if their undergraduate and graduate students fail to earn what the federal government considers an acceptable salary. Students attending academic programs where the salaries of graduates, aged 24 to 34, don't meet the salary standard for individual majors, won't be able to obtain federal loans. So if that MBA program shows poor earnings outcomes for graduates, it might lose federal loan access entirely—though business schools typically have strong earnings data, so this is less of a concern for MBAs than for, say, Master of Social Work programs.
The bottom line: An MBA student in 2026 faces a dramatic reduction in federal borrowing capacity compared to their counterparts in 2025, unless their program qualifies for some narrow exception (which is unlikely).