Judge Beryl A. Howell threw out the Education Department’s rule narrowing which graduate degrees count as professional for higher loan caps, a ruling that directly affects nursing students in advanced programs. She also stayed the rule pending final resolution of the litigation, leaving the dispute over who gets the larger borrowing limit unresolved for now.
The ruling came late Wednesday night, and the new loan limits are set to take effect on July 1. Under the law passed by Congress last summer, graduate students face a $20,500 annual cap and a $100,000 lifetime cap, while professional students can borrow $50,000 a year and $200,000 total.
Beryl A. Howell and OBBBA
Howell, who sits in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, wrote that the department’s approach was “misguided” and that “Congress could not have been clearer as to the meaning of ‘professional degree.’” Her ruling says the Education Department added criteria that went beyond Congress’s instructions in OBBBA.
OBBBA ended Grad PLUS and forced the department to draw a line between graduate and professional programs before the July 1 deadline. The Education Department chose to treat only 11 degree programs as professional: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology and clinical psychology. All other programs were placed in the graduate category.
Education Department and 11 programs
The department said in an email to Inside Higher Ed that “this order allows ED to enforce the statutory professional degree definition and loan caps. ED is reviewing the order and will take appropriate action.” That leaves schools and students preparing for July 1 under a court order that removes the department’s narrowing rule, but not the statute itself.
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators said “significant uncertainty remains as the ruling is only a day old. ED has not yet appealed, a path they can pursue, or commented publicly on any plans to issue guidance. For now, institutions should consult their own legal counsel before deciding how to proceed.” For nursing programs that fall outside the department’s 11-program list, the practical question is whether ED will keep that list, revise it or expand the set of programs it treats as professional before the new caps take effect.
July 1 loan caps
Howell’s stay means the fight is not over even after the rule was thrown out. The court has rejected the department’s narrowing definition, but the department can still choose its next step before July 1, and that choice will shape whether students in nursing and other excluded programs face the lower graduate-student cap or a broader professional-student limit.
