A federal judge ruled June 24 that nursing, physician associate and other clinical groups are likely to succeed in their challenge to a Department of Education rule that excluded their degrees from “professional” status, subjecting students to lower federal loan caps.
Judge Beryl Howell stayed the contested portions of the rule pending the outcome of the litigation, finding the department likely exceeded its authority by narrowing a definition Congress had adopted, according to court documents reviewed by Becker’s.
Ms. Howell declined requests to block the statutory loan caps entirely or to order the department to treat physician assistant students as professionals, saying that determination is “best reserved for the agency.”
The decision was filed June 25 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Here are seven things to know:
1. The rule at issue
A July 2025 law known as HR 1 eliminated uncapped Grad PLUS loans and set separate borrowing limits for “graduate” and “professional” students. Professional students can borrow up to $50,000 annually and $200,000 in aggregate; graduate students are capped at $20,500 annually and $100,000 in aggregate.
2. How the Education Department narrowed it
Congress defined “professional degree” by adopting the department’s longstanding regulatory definition as it stood July 4, 2025, which listed 10 example fields but stated the category was “not limited to” them.
In a final rule effective July 1, the department turned that list into an exclusive one, adding only clinical psychology, and layered on new requirements: that a professional degree generally be at the doctoral level, require at least six years of postsecondary coursework, and not lead to work supervised by a more-qualified professional.
3. Who sued
Six associations representing advanced practice nursing, therapy, public health and education fields sued in late May, led by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Two physician associate groups, the PA Education Association and the American Academy of Physician Associates, filed a separate lawsuit June 3. The cases were consolidated.
4. What the court found
Ms. Howell concluded the plaintiffs are likely to prevail on their claim that the rule is contrary to law, writing that Congress “removed any discretionary authority” the department had to narrow the definition.
The judge noted the department itself acknowledged that nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, certified nurse midwife and certified registered nurse anesthetist degrees “may satisfy” the statutory three-part test, but declined to count them.
5. The department’s reasoning
Throughout the rulemaking, the department repeatedly declined to weigh warnings that the loan caps would worsen healthcare workforce shortages, particularly in rural and underserved areas, stating that “Congress did not instruct the Department to consider [the] need for workers in a given field.”
The court said the department restricted its analysis when real-world factors favored a broader definition, then went beyond congressional instructions to narrow it.
6. What was and was not granted
Ms. Howell stayed part of the rule’s definition and the free-from-supervision requirement, but left in place the list of qualifying degrees, on the understanding that the list is not exclusive.
She also denied the nursing plaintiffs’ request to block the statutory loan caps entirely and denied the PA plaintiffs’ request to order the department to treat PA students as professionals, saying that determination is “best reserved for the agency.”
7. What’s next as litigation continues
Because the regulatory definition is stayed, the department may apply the statutory three-part test from the 2007 regulation to determine which degrees qualify; its counsel said those determinations could be made “relatively quickly.”
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