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Overview

The Loanlimit API implements one specific calculation: the schedule of reductions of federal Direct Loan annual limits for students enrolled less than full-time. Schools must reduce a student's annual loan limit when the student is enrolled less than full-time, on a graduated scale tied to enrollment intensity. This API gives you a single source of truth.

What the API does

For each student you submit, it returns:

  • Annual basic eligibility — the reduced annual loan limit after calculating the schedule of reductions, for subsidized, unsubsidized, and (for legacy Grad PLUS) Grad PLUS amounts.
  • Per-term distributions in both supported styles: equal (same amount per eligible term) and proportional (weighted by enrolled credits). Pick whichever your institution uses; do not mix them within a single student.
  • Adjustments for enrollment changes mid-period: if a student drops or adds credits after disbursement, the API recalculates the entitlement and computes the carry-forward deduction for subsequent terms.
  • Warnings for less-than-half-time terms, final-term over-disbursements, and other edge cases that need a human eye.

Two endpoints

  • POST /v1/calculate — intended for calculating a single student at a time, JSON request and response. Best for interactive integrations.
  • POST /v1/calculate/bulk — many students at once via CSV based request and response. Best for award-cycle batch runs or bulk validation. Download the sample template for the canonical column order and inputs.

Start with the Quickstart.