Student loans in 2026: 10 things every physician needs to know before July 1

A series of federal student loan changes signed into law in 2025 take effect July 1, 2026, beginning the most consequential restructuring of the federal student loan system in years.

For physicians, the most consequential pieces fall into three buckets: new borrowing limits for medical students, a narrower menu of repayment plans for new borrowers, and revised eligibility rules for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Several changes do not require physicians who finished training years ago to do anything different. Others affect every borrower with federal loans, regardless of career stage. The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan was vacated by a federal court order on March 10, and the Department of Education (ED) says loan servicers will begin issuing 90-day transition notices to roughly 7.5 million SAVE borrowers on July 1.

The financial stakes are not small. The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that 70% of the medical school class of 2025 graduated with education debt, with a median balance of $215,000.

A recent Panacea Financial survey of 269 doctor-customers found that 53% would not choose medicine again, or were unsure, under the new $200,000 federal professional-degree loan cap, and 46% said they do not fully understand their own repayment, forgiveness or refinancing options.

Here is what physicians, residents and medical students should track before this summer.