Nursing and physician assistant programs were days away from losing access to most federal aid.
A federal judge in Washington temporarily blocked a portion of the Trump administration’s new graduate student loan limits Wednesday, halting a rule days before it was set to take effect that would have sharply reduced federal borrowing for nursing students, physician assistant candidates, and others in fields the administration did not classify as professional degrees.
US District Judge Beryl Howell froze the Education Department’s definition of a professional degree, which had identified only 11 programs, including medicine, dentistry, and theology, as eligible for the higher annual borrowing cap of $50,000. Most other graduate programs, including nursing and physician assistant training, were placed in a general graduate category subject to a $20,500 annual cap.
The caps were part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed last year. Before that legislation, graduate students could borrow up to the full cost of attendance through the federal Grad Plus program. That program is being eliminated.
Why the definition matters so much
The distinction between graduate and professional degree designations is not administrative language. For fields like physician assistant training, where the median program cost runs approximately $103,000 for up to 27 months of training, a $20,500 annual cap covers less than half the median yearly cost. At the State University of New York Downstate, PA training costs more than $58,000 per year for in-state students and over $113,000 for those from out of state. Students in those programs typically rely on federal loans for living expenses as well, given that training programs require 60 to 80 hours of work per week.
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the PA Education Association, and other healthcare groups argued in court that the administration’s definition was arbitrary and that their fields meet the statutory criteria to qualify as professional programs under the law’s own language. The judge agreed that the definition warranted review and issued the stay while legal proceedings continue.
At least three separate legal challenges to the loan caps are currently working through the federal court system. A coalition of 24 Democratic attorneys general and two governors filed suit in May seeking a permanent injunction. The healthcare association groups followed in June with a request for an emergency injunction, which led to Wednesday’s ruling.
What the ruling does and does not do
Judge Howell’s order stays the administration’s professional degree definition but does not block the graduate loan caps entirely. The ruling acknowledged that the court could not address the broader concern about the end of uncapped borrowing, which was the central grievance of many plaintiffs. Graduate students will still face new borrowing limits beginning July 1, but the legal fight over which students qualify for the higher cap will continue.
The Education Department said it was reviewing the ruling and would take appropriate action.
The contradiction at the center of the policy
The healthcare groups challenging the rule have pointed to an internal contradiction in the administration’s approach. The same legislation that cut federal graduate loan access also established a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program that relies on physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and dental hygienists to address rural healthcare shortages. Ten Republican-led states currently employ more physician assistants than physicians. The federal government’s own presidential physician holds the title of physician assistant.
Advocates argue that cutting off the loan access that makes those careers financially reachable while simultaneously expecting those professionals to fill rural workforce gaps represents a policy that works against itself.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has argued before Congress that capping federal loans will put downward pressure on tuition, but critics note that institutions set tuition independently of federal loan limits and that prices are unlikely to fall fast enough or far enough to match the new caps. For borrowers excluded from the professional degree category, the practical alternative is private lending, which can carry interest rates as high as 17.95% compared to approximately 8% for federal graduate loans, and which requires credit underwriting that was historically a barrier for lower-income students before Congress moved to expand federal access in 2006.
A hearing date for the underlying cases has not been set.