What Are Student Loan Borrower Limits?

Flickr user Chad Elliot

When you go to take out a loan, you can’t just take out as much as you want. There are limitations in how much money you can receive. Each type of student loan—whether it’s private or federal—will have some sort of borrower limit. The amount will vary from loan to loan, or even circumstance to circumstance.

An individual loan can have multiple limits on it, as well. The three most common are annual loan limits, aggregate loan limits, and cost of attendance limits.

Annual Loan Limits:

As their name would suggest, this will be the max amount you can take out in a single academic year.

Aggregate Loan Limits:

This refers to the total amount you can take out over the course of your entire academic career. It can also be called a cumulative loan limit.

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Cost of Attendance Limits:

A limit that prevents a borrower from taking out more money than it actually costs to attend a college.

Certain loan limit amounts will shift depending on what year in school you’re in. The higher your school year, the higher your borrower limit. It will also differ depending if you’re an undergraduate or graduate student. Make sure you ask your student loan provider about the borrower limits that apply to you.

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Lender	Rates (APR)	Eligibility
	6.97%-15.03%* Variable 5.99%-14.00%* Fixed	Undergraduate and Graduate	VISIT CITIZENS
	6.37% - 16.70% Variable 4.50% - 15.49% Fixed	Undergraduate and Graduate	VISIT SALLIE MAE
	4.98% - 16.70% Variable 4.07% - 15.66% Fixed	Undergraduate and Graduate	VISIT CREDIBLE
	6.07% - 11.31% Variable 4.39% - 10.39% Fixed	Undergraduate and Graduate	VISIT LENDKEY
	6.22% - 16.08% Variable 4.09% - 15.66% Fixed	Undergraduate and Graduate	VISIT ASCENT
	6.54% - 11.08% Variable 3.95% - 8.01% Fixed	Undergraduate and Graduate	VISIT ISL
	5.62% - 18.26% Variable 4.11% - 15.90% Fixed	Undergraduate and Graduate	VISIT EARNEST
	4.98% - 12.79% Variable 8.42% - 13.01% Fixed	Undergraduate and Graduate	VISIT ELFI

College Raptor is not a loan lender and does not assume responsibility for suggesting a loan to a user who may not be eligible for it. Rates, terms, conditions, eligibility, approval, and other considerations are the decisions of the lenders and may vary depending on which lender or marketplace the user selects. We urge users to carefully consider and review all loan options and terms before committing to taking out a loan.