The American Academy of Physician Associates and the PA Education Association sued the U.S. Department of Education June 3, challenging a final rule that caps graduate and professional student loans and takes effect July 1.
Seven things to know:
1. The organizations filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, days after national nursing groups filed their own challenge to the rule May 29. The suit names the Education Department and Education Secretary Linda McMahon as defendants. According to the complaint, AAPA represents 74,271 members and serves more than 200,000 PAs nationwide, while PAEA represents all 330 accredited PA programs in the U.S.
2. The Reimagining and Improving Student Education rule, finalized April 30 and published in the Federal Register May 1, executes loan provisions of HR 1, signed into law in July 2025. It caps graduate student borrowing at $20,500 a year ($100,000 aggregate) and professional student borrowing at $50,000 a year ($200,000 aggregate), and sets formal definitions of “graduate student” and “professional student.” The rule classifies PA programs, whose entry-level credential is a master’s degree, as graduate programs subject to the lower limit.
3. The PA organizations argue the $20,500 cap falls far short of the cost of a PA education. The suit says tuition alone exceeds $68,323 for in-state students and $108,507 for nonresidents at public programs and averages $113,744 at private programs, before mandatory fees and living expenses. According to the rule, 76% of PA student borrowers (19,580 of 25,740) relied on the now-eliminated Grad PLUS program in 2023-24.
4. The groups further contend the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act by adding requirements to the statutory definition of “professional degree” that Congress never authorized. The suit says the rule requires a qualifying degree to be at the doctoral level, to require at least six years of postsecondary coursework, and to carry a specified federal program classification code, criteria that exclude master’s-level PA degrees from the higher professional-student loan limit.
5. The complaint separately challenges the department’s stated rationale that PA degrees are not professional degrees because most states require PAs to practice under physician supervision, a test the plaintiffs say appears nowhere in the statute or the rule’s own regulatory text. The suit argues the same test would disqualify some degrees the rule explicitly lists as professional, such as pharmacists who enter collaborative practice agreements.
6. The Education Department has defended the rule as a check on graduate borrowing and a protection for taxpayers, noting graduate students hold more than a third of federal student loan debt. Announcing the rule April 30, Undersecretary of Education Nicholas Kent said the administration is implementing “durable policies to make higher education more affordable.”
In a June 2 statement to Becker’s, Ellen Keast, the Education Department’s press secretary for higher education, said the administration is ending a system that pushed students into debt they often could not repay. Ms. Keast said colleges have charged “virtually unlimited tuition” for two decades while many borrowers saw little return. The department also cited several schools that have cut tuition or expanded graduate scholarships since the caps took shape.
7. The PA groups are also filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to block the rule before its July 1 effective date.
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