Higher education finance leaders are bracing for cascading effects from new limits on federal student lending, as the U.S. Department of Education writes and enforces tighter rules. The changes include the sunsetting of Grad PLUS and lifetime caps on borrowing, with major knock-on effects for graduate enrollment and institutional budgets. In parallel, courts have narrowed the government’s ability to delay borrower defense decisions. A federal appeals court rejected the Department of Education’s bid to push back deadlines tied to class-action relief that provides debt relief when students were misled. Together, the policy moves increase uncertainty for colleges already operating under tight margins and legal risk. Institutions face operational strain in compliance planning, financial aid packaging, and communications with graduate applicants as “professional” degree classification becomes a pivotal threshold for borrowing limits.