Students pursuing graduate degrees in nursing, physical therapy, and several other fields will be eligible to take out higher federal student loan amounts -- at least for now -- after a federal judge blocked part of a Trump administration rule that held them to lower limits.
The U.S. Education Department issued a revised rule on Monday designed to follow the judge's order from last week, officials told the Associated Press. Agency officials called it a temporary change while they fight in court to keep the original rule, which defined medicine, law, and other fields as "professional programs" but excluded fields such as nursing.
The department disagrees with the judge's order but will comply, even as officials plan to prevail in the case over which degrees are defined as "professional," Undersecretary Nicholas Kent said in a statement. "We will continue to make the case that the definition is both lawful and appropriate," he said.
The change represents a short-term win for groups that sued to stop the rule. Eight groups challenged the department's definition in court, representing nurse practitioners, therapists, speech language pathologists, and more.
But in strictly applying the judge's order, the department is now striking some degrees from the list of professional programs, meaning those students will face lower loan limits. Theology studies programs are among the biggest to shift from professional to non-professional degrees in the shuffle, subjecting theology students to a lower student loan limit. The master of divinity degree -- a common degree for pastors and ministers -- remains on the professional list, with a more generous student loan limit.
