More students will have access to higher loan caps following a court order.
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | mohd izzuan/iStock/Getty Images
More graduate degree programs will be eligible for higher loan caps, according to a list published Monday by the Education Department.
Previously, just 11 degrees were considered professional programs for the purposes of applying new loan limits that take effect Wednesday. But a federal judge put the Education Department’s policy on hold last week, ruling that the agency didn’t have the authority to make up its own definition for professional programs. Congress included a definition in the reconciliation bill that put the loan caps in place.
In an online post, ED officials said that they are confident the department’s definition is lawful and will defend it in court. But while the litigation continues, the department will use the statutory definition to administer the loan caps. Now, 29 programs will be treated as professional degrees, including three nursing degrees. (Associations and advocates for nursing have been among the more vocal critics of the department’s loan caps proposal.)
