Judge blocks Trump plan that would limit graduate student loans in nursing and other fields [View all]
Source: AP
Updated 8:54 PM EDT, June 25, 2026
A federal judge has blocked part of a Trump administration plan that would have limited access to loans for students pursuing graduate degrees in nursing, physical therapy, public health and some other fields.
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners, one of the groups that sued, described the ruling in a Facebook post Thursday as “an important step for NP students, the future health care workforce and the patients who depend on them.”
At issue are caps on federal student loans that were passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and set to take effect in July. While graduate students could previously borrow loans up to the cost of their degree, the new rules set limits. Programs that were designated as “graduate” programs face a loan cap of $100,000, while professional degrees are capped at $200,000.
The Education Department defined the following fields as professional programs: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry and theology. Eight groups sued, representing nurse practitioners, therapists, public health workers, speech language pathologists, physician assistants and more. All were left out of the new definition.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-borrowing-limits-lawsuit-graduate-degrees-c9ab4ad4f696822516720523f0389875
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.292690/gov.uscourts.dcd.292690.46.0.pdf
Link to American Association of Nurse Practitioners PRESS RELEASE - Federal Court Grants Preliminary Relief in Challenge to Department of Education Rule
REFERENCES
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