A proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Education will narrow the definition of professional degrees and lower the loan limits for non-professional students.
The rule, set to go into effect on July 1, will allow graduate students in professional degrees to borrow up to $50,000 per year with a $200,000 lifetime limit. Those in non-professional programs will be able to borrow up to $20,500 per year with a $100,000 lifetime limit. Undergraduate loans will apply towards lifetime limits, according to Harvard University’s financial administration.
The proposed rulemaking defines a professional student as someone enrolled in a program that typically rewards a doctoral degree; requires at least six years of collegiate schooling, including two years beyond a bachelor’s degree; is directly tied to professional licensure; and is directly related to a closed list of fields.
The 11 fields listed as professional in the rule are pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology and clinical psychology.
Graduate programs previously considered professional that are excluded from the list include nursing, accounting, architecture, social work and education. UT offers graduate degrees in each of these fields.
The reclassification could impact students like Grayson Chadwick, who said she plans to go into an occupational therapy program. Chadwick said she is nervous about her ability to pursue the career and go to a school she wants to.
“My parents offered to pay for all of my tuition during my four years,” said Chadwick, a kinesiology sophomore. “When I talked to them about wanting to do grad school, they were like, ‘We can pay to put you through university, but we can’t pay to put you through grad school.’ Pretty much all of my grad school will be taken out on loans.”
Occupational therapists work with patients who have disabling mental or physical conditions and help patients develop and strengthen daily functions, according to the Mayo Clinic. To become an OT, a student must graduate from either a two-year master’s program or a three-year doctoral program, pass the National Board for Certification of Occupational Therapy examination and get licensed in the state where they will practice, according to the American Occupational Therapy Association.
“It was really frustrating, because our job is so hands-on and (is) helping people, so it is really discouraging to know that you’re gonna go to school for six to seven years, for it just to not be considered professional anymore,” Chadwick said. “It was also a little scary, because I don’t really have another option to pay for school. Loans are kind of the only option. And with there being a cap, it’s like all of your options are kind of limited.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed last July, established lower loan caps for professional degrees. Under the act, the Department of Education was required to identify the “professional degree” programs that would be eligible for higher federal lending limits.
The department has done so with the Reimagining and Improving Student Education Committee, which determined the “package of federal student loan-related changes” after meeting last fall.
The rule also completely phases out Graduate PLUS loans, which are federal, non-need-based financial aid that offers up to the cost of attendance at a fixed interest rate. Previously, Graduate PLUS loans were not subject to borrowing caps.
The cost of graduate school
If someone from Texas were seeking a graduate degree in social work and relied on loans, their options would be limited. The Texan compiled a list of schools and their cost of attendance for the social work program. The top public and private schools, for both in-state and out of state, had an annual cost of attendance higher than the annual loan cap for non-professional students.
Amy Czulada, senior advisor for outreach & engagement at Protect Borrowers, which investigates financial abuse and advocates for stronger consumer protections, said the changes are concerning and could make education more expensive.
“Typically, people have taken out Graduate PLUS loans to meet (the deficit after loan caps),” Czulada said. “If you’re trying to go to a social work program, and it costs more than (the $100,000 loan cap), … there will be no Graduate PLUS loans to take out, and so you’ll have to turn to the private market, or decide not to go back to school.”
In a November 2025 press release, the Department of Education wrote that the changes implemented by the rule will lead to graduate schools lowering their tuition rates.
“Since 2007, graduate and professional students have been able to borrow up to the full cost of attendance,” the press release stated. “This has allowed colleges and universities to dramatically increase tuition rates, even for credentials with modest earnings potential, which has saddled too many borrowers with debts they find difficult to repay. The act’s annual federal loan caps are already reigning in inflated prices at graduate programs across the country.”
Czulada said her center has not seen this change, and isn’t expecting to.
“We know that institutions aren’t just gonna magically lower their prices because of this,” Czulada said. “I don’t think that that’s something that we foresee.”
Charlton Lewis, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs in the School of Architecture, wrote in an email that he and others involved in admissions and student support are unsure how the change will affect the student body. Lewis is not speaking on behalf of the School of Architecture or the University.
“We are equally curious and concerned as to how this will potentially impact our students but we are not yet operating from a position of understanding those impacts to date,” Lewis wrote. “As we interact with our incoming classes and continuing students in this upcoming year, I would expect us to know much more regarding this change.”
Czulada said students will turn to private loans, which, according to the Federal Student Aid website, often have higher interest rates, are not subsidized and are generally more expensive than government loans.
Approximately 40% of people won’t be eligible for private loans because of their credit history, Czulada said. She said this could leave those people with even fewer options to fund graduate education.
“People need to ultimately make their own decisions on these things,” Czulada said. “I’d love a world where everybody can study what they want to study, when they want to study it, because it’s their passion.”
Is my program professional?
When determining whether a specific program or major is professional or not, the Department of Education uses the program’s Classification of Instructional Programs code, a nationally standardized code that defines and tracks degrees. The first six digits in a CIP are national, so equivalent programs will have the same number. The last two, if they are not zeros, are Texas-specific additions to further clarify programs.
A degree is considered professional if the programs share the same first four digits as one of the 11 professional fields’ CIP codes.
The CIP code for a professional dentistry program is 51.04, pharmacy is 51.20, law is 22.01, medicine is 51.12, osteopathic medicine/osteopathy is 51.12, veterinary medicine is 01.80, chiropractic is 51.01, optometry is 51.17, theology/theological studies is 39.06, osteopathic medicine/osteopathy is 51.12 and clinical psychology is 42.28.
However, not all seemingly related programs are professional. Programs like Advanced General Dentistry (51.05) or Dental Public Health and Education (51.05) are not professional because the program isn’t labeled as a 51.04 on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Index of CIP codes by content area.
Thirty-eight types of programs nationwide are considered professional, according to the Department of Education.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include more accurate information.
