Boyfriend of 5 years says he no longer feels the same anymore

I have been with my now ex boyfriend for 5 years. We started dating in high school when we were 16. We basically grew up together and watched each other grow. We pushed each other to be better people. Over the course of the past two months, we have had a lot of stress. We would feel distant from each other, we stopped having sex often, fight more, and I would admit it didn’t feel the same anymore. But I still loved him and still love him regardless because I know this is just a rough patch. He had also started a program at school three months ago that was extremely demanding.

We broke up two days ago. The week leading up to it felt completely normal. We saw each other, we laughed, we cuddled, we kissed. The day before we broke up he hugged me and told me he loved me. The next day he told me he no longer felt the same way. He said he still has feelings for me but they’re not the same. He said he had felt this way over the past three months and felt guilty for being with me because he didn’t know how to tell me. He didn’t want to even take a break because he didn’t think time would fix it. We have never in our 5 years taken a break before either. I truly believe that once he finishes the program it will help us. I don’t want to accept that its over because I don’t see it that way at all, but he keeps insisting that I should just accept it and we can be friends again within time.

I am giving him his space and hoping that time will heal us. I can’t throw away five years because of two bad months. Should I be giving up? Should I have hope that we will be together again someday? Can this be fixed?