How Many Student Loans Can I Take Out? Limits, Maximums, and How Much to Borrow in 2025

There’s no set limit on how many student loans you can take out, but federal and private lenders cap how much you can borrow. For example, federal loans range from $5,500 to $12,500 per year for undergrads, with a lifetime cap of $31,000 for dependent students. Private loans may cover the full cost of attendance based on credit.

Many students take multiple loans—starting with federal options and filling gaps with private loans. Understanding these limits can help you borrow strategically and avoid excessive debt. Here’s how it works.

Table of Contents

1. How much in federal loans can I get for college?
2. How much in private loans can I get for college?
3. How many student loans can I take out?
4. What happens if I max out my student loan limits?
5. How to avoid overborrowing

How much in federal loans can I get for college?

Federal student loan limits vary depending on your year in school and whether or not you qualify as financially independent from your parents. You may be considered an independent student if you’re at least 24 years old, married, or have dependents other than a spouse. In these cases, you may qualify for higher loan amounts.

If you don’t meet these or other eligibility criteria for independent student status, you’ll be classified as a dependent student and be subject to a lower limit. Here’s how the limits break down:

Year in school	Dependent student	Independent student
First-year undergrad	$5,500	$9,500
Second-year undergrad	$6,500	$10,500
Third-year and beyond undergrad	$7,500	$12,500

These limits include both Direct Subsidized and Direct Unsubsidized loans. In addition, the Dept. of Education also sets aggregate limits for dependent and independent undergrads:

• Dependent undergraduate students can borrow up to $31,000 total over the course of college
• Independent students can receive up to $57,500 throughout their undergraduate program

If you’re a graduate student or a parent, your loan limits will depend on the loan program you apply for:

• With unsubsidized Direct Loans, for instance, graduate and professional students can borrow up to $20,500 per year and up to $138,500 in total. 
• With Direct PLUS Loans, however, there is no hard dollar limit. Instead, your maximum loan amount each year will be based on your school’s cost of attendance minus any other financial aid you receive.  

For an in-depth look at federal student loan limits, check out our guide.

Read More

Do student loans cover a semester or year?

How much in private loans can I get for college?

We always recommend maxing our your federal financial aid and student loan options first, because they come with lower interest rates and repayment benefits. However, if you need additional funds beyond what you qualify for federally, private student loans can fill the gap.

Private student loan approval is based on income and creditworthiness, you may need to ask a parent to cosign your application. Without a cosigner, you may not be approved or qualify for the loan amount you need (or a low enough interest rate to make repayment feasible).

Private student loan companies set their own annual and aggregate student loan limits. Some may cover the annual cost of attendance minus other financial aid; others may limit it. 

All four of our top-rated private student loan lenders all will cover up to 100% of college costs. We recommend starting with one of these to get the full financing you need. Earnest in particular is best for large loan amounts when you have a cosigner due to its willingness to let you customize your repayment schedule, a unique skip-a-payment benefit, and no fees.

How many student loans can I take out?

As we mentioned, there’s no set limit on how many student loans you can take out, but federal and private lenders cap borrowing amounts based on eligibility and cost of attendance. That’s why many students end up using a combination of federal and private loans to pay for school.

To see how this works in practice, let’s look at a hypothetical example.

Example: How combining multiple student loans works

Sarah is a dependent freshman at a university with a $40,000 per year cost of attendance. Here’s how she covers her expenses:

• Scholarships and grants: She receives $8,000, reducing her remaining cost to $32,000 per year.
• Federal student loans: She qualifies for the maximum $5,500 as a freshman, $6,500 as a sophomore, and $7,500 as a junior and senior.
• Private student loans: To cover the remaining amount, she takes out private loans each year.

Here’s how her borrowing adds up:

Year in school	Federal loans	Private loans
Freshman	$5,500	$26,500
Sophomore	$6,500	$25,500
Junior	$7,500	$24,500
Senior	$7,500	$24,500

After four years, Sarah will have:

• $27,000 in federal student loans
• $101,000 in private student loans

Once Sarah graduates, she’ll start repaying both types of loans, but her federal and private loans will have very different terms. Here is how her interest rates and monthly payments might look if she pays both loan balances back in 10 years:

Loan type	Balance	Rate	Pay/mo.
Federal	$27,000	5.5%	$292
Private	$101,000	9.0%	$1,285
Total	$128,000	Varies	$1,577

In total, Sarah’s student loan payments after graduation would be about $1,577 per month.

Because Sarah maxed out federal loans before turning to private loans, her total repayment burden is lower than if she had relied entirely on private lenders. However, private loans often have higher interest rates and stricter repayment terms, making them more expensive to repay over time.

This example shows how students can take out multiple student loans to finance their education, using federal loans first for lower interest rates and better repayment options, then filling the gap with private loans when necessary.

While this strategy helps cover the full cost of attendance, it’s important to be mindful of the long-term impact of taking on large amounts of private student loan debt.

What happens if I max out my student loan limits?

If you reach your federal student loan limit and still need more funding, you have a few options:

• Apply for more gift aid. Scholarships and grants don’t require repayment, so check with your school’s financial aid office and use sites like Scholarships.com and Fastweb to find more opportunities.
• Find part-time or summer work. Even a small income can help cover costs and reduce reliance on loans.
• Consider a Parent PLUS loan. If you’re a dependent student, your parent may be able to take out a Parent PLUS Loan for the remaining cost of attendance. These loans have higher interest rates and limited repayment options, so they should be a backup plan.
• Explore private student loans. If federal aid isn’t enough, private student loans can help bridge the gap—but they usually come with higher interest rates and fewer repayment options, so compare lenders carefully.

Before taking on additional debt, consider ways to reduce your costs to avoid borrowing more than necessary.

How to avoid overborrowing

Just because you can borrow a certain amount doesn’t mean you should. A common rule of thumb is to avoid borrowing more than your expected first-year salary after graduation. You can research salaries in your field using sites like Payscale or Salary.com and use that as a borrowing cap.

Beyond that, keep borrowing as low as possible by:

• Sticking to a budget. Minimize living expenses and save money by sharing housing, cooking at home, and using student discounts.
• Maximizing free money first. Prioritize scholarships, grants, work-study opportunities, fellowships, and assistantships before taking out loans.
• Only borrowing private loans as a last resort. Federal loans offer lower interest rates and better repayment options, so use them first before considering private lenders.

Borrowing responsibly now can make a big difference in managing your student loan payments after graduation.