A federal court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Education from applying new regulations significantly restricting which graduate degrees count as “professional.”
The designation allows students pursuing such degrees to take out up to $200,000 in federal student loans — double the amount permitted for other graduate programs. Among notable omissions were graduate education programs, a move that advocates said could harm educator pipelines.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the Education Department’s definition of professional degrees, which it released in April, is likely inconsistent with the definition that Congress included when creating the caps last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Howell also said the department’s rulemaking process likely violated the Administrative Procedures Act.
In its final rule, the department limited its definition to 11 specific degrees and added new criteria to the definition of “professional,” such as that the programs are "generally at the doctoral level." The Education Department also stipulated that practitioners in fields designated as “professional” can work unsupervised by those with “more education, training, and qualifications.”
Howell granted key parts of a preliminary injunction request brought by six professional and education associations — including the National Education Association and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing — that asked for a halt to the new regulations.
“By adopting the preexisting definition as it was in effect on a specific date, Congress removed any discretionary authority the Department may have had to narrow the definition for the purpose of determining federal loan caps,” Howell wrote.
The judge temporarily ordered the department to adhere to an existing regulation cited by Congress in OBBBA when creating the loan caps. But she also denied the plaintiffs' request to block the department from imposing the new loan caps until it writes a new rule.
The Higher Education Act regulation cited by Congress states that professional degrees signify “completion of the academic requirements for beginning practice in a given profession, and a level of professional skill beyond that normally required for a bachelor’s degree” and also typically require licensure.
