In an effort to reduce the amount of federal spending on student loans that aligns with the budget and department cuts outlined in the One Big Beautiful Bill, the Department of Education has reclassified many degrees to reduce their eligibility for federal aid. The decision uses a narrow definition of “professional degree” based on a 1965 federal ruling to limit federal loan eligibility to eleven post baccalaureate programs.
Federal aid makes it possible for low-income students to afford higher education, but some claim that loans drive up debt and tuition prices. The eligibility change is part of the federal government’s effort to reduce spending and combat perceived ideological threats within social safety programs, and student loans join healthcare, foreign aid, research and a multitude of other programs that are losing funding.
“Congress had a desire to do something about student debt because it was growing pretty significantly,” Jordan Grant, associate vice president of financial services at Seattle University, said. “They saw that we’ve crossed a trillion dollars in debt, and they saw that a disproportionate share of it is on graduate loans, so they cut them.”
The Department of Education released a list Nov. 21 of just eleven degrees it considers “professional.” The list included programs like pharmacy, dentistry, law and theology; however, a number of other programs were excluded. Nursing, teaching, accounting, architecture and social work–women-dominated professions, as many were quick to point out–were notably absent, prompting widespread outrage.
Professional degrees are eligible for twice the amount of student loans (per year and aggregate) than other graduate school offerings are. Students pursuing degrees on the newly released list can access up to $50,000 per year in direct unsubsidized loans; other graduate school students are eligible for only $20,500. In addition, federal PLUS loans, which allow graduate students to borrow up to their full cost of attendance, are set to be on July 1, 2026.
“It was a very heavy-handed decision,” Grant said. “We know that aggregate [parent] PLUS loans now are capped at $65,000. That math doesn’t really work out because it takes about four years to graduate.”
With access to federal aid decreased, graduate students at Seattle U–who borrow an estimated thirty million dollars per year in federal aid–will now be responsible for fronting a much greater portion of their tuition, along with associated costs of attendance like textbooks and housing. Students in the nursing and mental health counseling programs are expected to feel the loss the most: they account for nearly 70% of all federal PLUS loans taken out by graduate students at Seattle U.
“Medical degrees and the like tend to come with high costs,” Ben Lockyear, assistant director for financial aid at Seattle U, said. “Usually, you have to devote your entire life to school during those programs–you can’t get a job. Unsurprisingly, they tend to be our biggest population of borrowers within the SU graduate community.”
For a country already lacking in medical professionals, a dearth of nurses and mental health professionals poses a very real threat to the healthcare sector. Students pursuing careers in nursing, physical therapy, public health and a number of other health-related degrees will need to rely on private loans, grants and scholarships to finance their education. For some, however, graduate PLUS loans will still be available.
Graduate PLUS loans, which provide case-specific funds to cover up to the total cost of graduate school attendance, will still be available to anyone who takes out a loan before July 1, 2026. They’ll be considered “legacy borrowers,” according to Lockyear, and will keep access to PLUS loans as long as they stay enrolled in the same program and complete it within three years.
Roughly 18% of current graduate students at Seattle U have taken out graduate PLUS loans. Both Lockyear and Grant stressed that students should take advantage of the financial aid available to them now. Taking out even a small PLUS loan will preserve access to the program in the future. Additionally, resources like scholarships and third-party lenders can help students supplement their education.
However, PLUS loans and scholarships won’t save every graduate student, especially not those who were counting on loans. Future educators, who make relatively little throughout their careers, fear losing their teaching licenses or access to graduate school altogether if they lose federal student aid.
“I personally won’t be affected, but it feels really unfair,” Third-year Humanities for Teaching major Diya Lal said. “Everything is so expensive already, and not everyone has money. I don’t think taking away aid is the solution.”
Avenues for change remain as the preliminary regulations will open for public comment within the next few weeks. Still, if the current proposal becomes law, graduate school will become far less affordable for a great number of Americans.
A correction was made on Jan. 22, 2026: This article was updated to make two clarifications. That loan changes take effect on July 1, 2026 (the previous version stated that loan eliminations would begin in June), and that students in nursing and mental health counseling programs take out most of the graduate PLUS loans, not federal loans.
A quote from Jordan Grant, associate vice president of financial services at Seattle University, was also updated to include a word that makes clear which loan he was referring to, as well as to clarify phrasing at the end. The previous version conflated the parent PLUS loan changes with the graduate PLUS loan changes and stated that it “takes about four years to go to graduate school” when Grant intended to state that it takes about four years to graduate.
Corrections are made during production when errors are identified in time, so not all corrections may appear in every edition.
