A coalition of provider associations on Wednesday evening won a preliminary injunction blocking a cap on federal student loans that was set to go into effect on July 1.
The case, filed in late May by six professional associations and joined over subsequent weeks by others, centered on a Department of Education final rule that would subject many advanced practice occupations to the lower of two federal borrowing caps.
The aggregate limits of $100,000 for "graduate degrees" and $200,000 for "professional degrees" had been outlined in last summer's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, though the final say on what counts as a "professional degree" was up to the department's rulemaking.
After proposing and finalizing stricter-than-expected definitions that largely limited the higher cap to doctorate-level degrees, industry groups and, separately, several states filed legal complaints replete with warnings about the potential impacts on workforce training and access to care.
In Wednesday's order applying to two different provider association lawsuits, Judge Beryl A. Howell, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said the plaintiffs had shown that their arguments against the department's definition of a professional degree are "likely to succeed."
Congress, she wrote in the memorandum opinion, "could not have been clearer as to the meaning of 'professional degree,' having expressly adopted in its entirety the longstanding definition set forth in [a 2007 update to the Code of Federal Regulations]." The department's decision to adopt a new definition is therefor likely to be found "contrary to law" under the Administrative Procedure Act, she wrote.
The judge granted the plaintiffs' request for temporary relief in regard to the definition, but said other requests for additional relief from the caps at large would be an overreach. The case will now continue toward a more lasting decision, although the administration could appeal the preliminary injunction in the meantime.
"This is an important step for nurse practitioner students, as well as the future health care workforce and the patients who depend on them for access to care," Valerie Fuller, Ph.D., president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, one of the plaintiff organizations, said in a statement. "We are pleased the court recognized the serious legal concerns raised by this rule."
The American Academy of Physician Associates and the PA Education Association, whose lawsuit was included in the order, said in a statement that "the broad nonpartisan outcry against this rule underscores that supporting the PA workforce should not be a political issue—it is a healthcare issue." They added that their organizations " remain confident in the merits of our case and committed to ensuring that PA students receive the higher loan limits Congress intended under the law."
June 1, 2026
Nursing associations sue to block stiffened federal student loan caps
Several nursing associations have joined the legal fray surrounding a cap on federal student loans critics worry will limit an already insufficient clinical workforce pipeline.
National nursing organizations, including the American Nurses Association, jointly filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education seeking to block portions of a recently published final rule regarding the definition of a "professional degree," or those that would qualify for greater borrowing. That final rule is slated to go into effect July 1.
Echoing the litigation filed by dozens of attorneys general a few weeks prior (see that story below), the associations argued that the department's definition unlawfully narrowed the example outlined by legislators in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to a limited number of doctorate-level degrees. Further, the department's approach was "arbitrary and capricious and not the product of reasoned decision-making" because it relied on unintended factors and did not "meaningfully" address public comments.
Additionally, by relegating advanced nursing degrees to the $100,000 aggregate cap for "graduate students," the department is forcing potential healthcare workers to seek "crushing, higher-interest debt or abandon their career aspirations."
“The Department of Education ignored the voices of nurses and nurse allies who spoke out against this rule throughout their rulemaking process. Increasing barriers to post-baccalaureate nursing education doesn't just limit opportunities and access to education, it limits patients' access to timely care from trusted, highly trained practitioners,” Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, Ph.D, president of the American Nurses Association, said in a statement. “We are exercising our due process rights to ensure this is corrected.”
Joining the ANA as plaintiffs are: the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA), the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM), the American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA), the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON), Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Incorporated, the Health Ministries Association (HMA), the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS), and the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health (NPWH).
May 19, 2026
Coalition of attorneys general sue to block federal student loan caps
Twenty-six attorneys general filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Department of Education over a recently finalized cap on federal student loans—the litigators, as well as health industry groups, say will hamper the clinical workforce pipeline.
The attorneys, from largely blue states and the District of Columbia, filed their suit in Maryland’s federal court. They asked the court to declare the department’s definition of “professional degrees” outlined in an April 30 final rule, as well as the rule’s handling of existing borrowers’ grandfathered limits, to be declared unlawful and vacated.
“Higher education is expensive, and our healthcare system is already under immense strain,” Letitia James, New York’s attorney general and one of the suit’s plaintiffs, said in a release. “This rule will shut talented people out of critical professions and leave communities with fewer healthcare providers they desperately need. We cannot afford fewer nurses, fewer providers, or fewer opportunities for working people to enter these essential fields.”
The Department of Education brought the new loan caps to comply with last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for which the administration promised the changes would help curb rising tuition costs and protect students from overborrowing. Those borrowing limits, per statute, are $20,500 per year and $100,000 in aggregate for "graduate students," and $50,000 and $200,000 for “professional” degree programs.
While the sums and a general definition of the terms were codified by Congress, the department had the ultimate say on what types of programs and degrees fit those two categories. In last fall’s proposed rule and early May’s final word, the administration’s definitions reserved the higher ceiling for 11 roles, including medicine, pharmacy and other specialty doctorates, leaving various advanced practice providers, such as nurse practitioners, and other adjacent roles like social workers or physical therapists at the $100,000 aggregate cap.
The final rule goes into effect July 1.
The healthcare industry pushed back against the definitions in lockstep, telling the administration in submitted comments to use its discretion to include more advanced care roles in the “professional” degree program definition. Alongside concerns that the insufficient amounts would dissuade highly needed trainees, they cited statistics on the high average salaries these positions offer and the historically low rate of defaults among those degree owners.
The attorneys general coalition took the side of industry groups and associations. In their complaint, they wrote that the department had “never intended” for an illustrative selection of degrees outlined in the statute to be used as a narrow, exclusive list of degrees applicable for the higher limit, “thereby excluding many healthcare and other professional degrees that would otherwise be eligible for the higher limits.”
The department’s approach, they wrote, is contrary to the statute’s plain terms in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. It’s also arbitrary and capricious under the same law because the department inconsistently “relied on several factors Congress did not intend it to consider—such as whether professionals are subject to supervision” and failed to explain its rejection of any alternative definitions during rulemaking.
Additionally, the complaint notes that the statute requires federal student loan borrowers, as of June 30, 2026, to be grandfathered into the previous loan limits. The final rule “with almost no explanation” ties existing borrowers to the new rates if they transfer institutions or withdraw and re-enroll, “both contrary to the statute and arbitrary and capricious,” the suit reads.