Judge Throws Out Definition of “Professional” Degree

A federal judge has struck down the Department of Education’s policy to completely limit graduate student access to higher student loan limits, a victory for universities, health advocacy groups and others who say the policy could prevent students from earning advanced nursing degrees and pursuing other important careers.

The ruling, released Wednesday night, focused on the definition of the term “professional” in Congress’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and how the department narrowed that definition when it issued its executive order. Judge Beryl A. Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia called the department’s approach “incorrect.”

“Congress could not have been clearer about what ‘professional qualification,'” Howell wrote, saying the ED had deviated from that definition.

The lawsuits surrounding the law aren’t over yet—Howell resigned from the law “pending a final decision on this case”—and ED did not offer interviews Thursday about how it would respond to the decision. It is not yet clear which programs the ED will consider to be professional and thus eligible for large loans. Loan restrictions come into effect on 1 July.

In an email to Within Higher Edthe department said only that “this order allows ED to apply the definition of official professional qualifications and loan ratings. ED is reviewing this order and will take appropriate action.”

The official definition of a professional qualification is “a qualification that demonstrates the completion of both the educational requirements for entry into the practice of a profession and a level of professional competence beyond that normally required for a qualification. A professional license is usually required.”

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators wrote on its website that “there is great uncertainty as the decision is only one day away.

When Congress passed OBBBA last summer, Republicans ended the Grad PLUS program, which allowed undergraduate students to borrow their full cost of attendance, and introduced new loan titles. The law limits “graduate students” to borrowing $20,500 per year, or $100,000 in total, and “professional students” to borrowing $50,000 per year, or $200,000 in total. The ED then took a months-long process to decide how to implement the law. The definition of professionalism was a point of contention throughout the process.

The department finally decided that only students in 11 degree programs can borrow at the higher, “professional” level: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology and clinical psychology. ED considered all other programs to be “degrees.”

Besides clinical psychology, those 11 programs were also listed at the end of the professional degree definition in the OBBBA. But that definition notes that “examples of professional degrees include but are not limited to” before listing the programs.

ED used criteria beyond those specified in the OBBBA to state that those programs, along with clinical psychology, should be the only ones to be counted as specialties. Howell ruled that Congress had adopted a specific interpretation in its law, and the ED could not change that.

“Congress did not direct the Department to review and revise the existing regulatory definition [law] with any new eligibility criteria, not to mention the five changes in the statutory regulatory definition,” Howell wrote. “In fact, Congress did the opposite. By adopting the pre-existing definition as it went into effect on a particular date, Congress removed any discretion the Department might have had to narrow the definition for purposes of determining federal loan rates. ”

He also said there is a conflict between the department’s belief that Congress has not mandated it to consider “adverse effects on health care and education workforces, workforce diversity, rural and underserved communities, and working families,” and its belief that it can make these changes in Congress’ interpretation.

“The Department has limited its analysis, due to the lack of conference mandates, when considering the real-world factors that encourage expansion of the definition; its decision to go beyond conference mandates to limit the definition of ‘professional degree’ is as confusing as it is legally flawed,” Howell wrote.

In an email to Within Higher EdJosie Eskow Skinner, a partner at Sligo Law Group, said the ED does not have time to make new legislation, so “the language in the statute is what controls.”

“Since the statutory language is so broad, more than those 11 jobs in law should be included under the umbrella of professional degrees,” Skinner wrote. “This being said, I will not be surprised if the government immediately appeals this decision to the District Court and asks for this decision to be suspended.”

The PA (which used to stand for “physician assistant”) Education Association was among the parties that filed the two lawsuits that Howell ruled concurrently on Wednesday. In a news release, the PA Education Association said “the decision provides temporary but immediate relief as the case moves forward” on the merits of the legal arguments. Physician assistants were not considered “specialists” by the ED.

“Our focus is on identifying this challenge for the PA profession to reach a final solution,” the release said. “Thousands of prospective PA students remain unable to make long-term decisions about their education and future careers with confidence. The uncertainty created by this legislation continues to threaten the future of the healthcare workforce at a time when communities across the country are already facing a growing shortage of providers.”