WEEKLY UPDATE: 05/14/26
The U.S. Department of Education recently released a final rule implementing restrictions on federal student loan borrowing, including for post-graduate training in healthcare and related social service professions, under the Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) initiative.
The regulation, which goes into effect on July 1, defines the terms “professional student” and “graduate student” to determine federal student loan amounts based on the type of program in which a student is enrolled. Professional students are defined as individuals enrolled in one of 11 designated professional degree programs: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology, and clinical psychology.
In response to the department’s notice of proposed rulemaking, the Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) submitted comments in opposition to portions of the proposed rule related to the definitions of “professional student” and “professional degree.” CHA expressed serious concern, writing that the regulation would exacerbate persistent healthcare workforce shortages, particularly in rural and underserved communities, and urged the department to revise the proposed definition to explicitly include advanced healthcare degrees that are directly tied to licensure, patient safety, and public health infrastructure.
“The consequences of this policy shift would directly undermine the preparation and sustainability of our healthcare workforce. This is particularly true for post-baccalaureate degree programs in nursing, physician assistant, pediatrics, rehabilitation, social work, and other high-demand professions on which our healthcare delivery system relies,” the letter reads, in part. “Our state is actively bolstering recruitment and retention initiatives, loan repayment programs, and cross-sector partnerships to stabilize high-need healthcare professions. We must ensure that efforts to refine education classification frameworks do not inadvertently weaken the workforce that protects the health and safety of our residents.”
While the department acknowledged comments from healthcare and social services stakeholders regarding workforce and affordability concerns, the final rule did not expand the definition of “professional student” or adopt the broader classification approach requested by CHA. The department stated that it remains confident in its classification of professional versus graduate degree programs.
Click here to read CHA’s comment letter to the Department of Education.
In response to these changes at the federal level, advocates, including CHA, successfully worked with state policymakers during the 2026 Legislative Session to establish a graduate-level student loan fund. The fiscal year 2027 state biennial budget adjustment allocates up to $30 million in bonding for the Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority (CHESLA) to create the Supplemental Graduate Loan Program, which will provide additional lending opportunities for Connecticut graduate students.
New Definition of Professional Degrees
H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), enacted a litany of provisions that make substantial changes to existing federal graduate student loan programs, including lower annual and aggregate loan limits and the complete elimination of the Grad PLUS loan program. The U.S. Department of Education was tasked with designating a set of degrees as “professional,” a definition that dictates the dollar amount a student may borrow. For students pursuing degrees not on the short list of so-called professional programs, federal loans are capped at half of the professional limit. The agency identified only 11 professional degrees that are eligible for higher lending caps, excluding valuable clinical and social services fields.
Effective July 2026, the policy caps loans for new borrowers at $50,000 per year for professional students ($200,000 aggregate limit) and only $20,500 for “graduate” students ($100,000 aggregate limit). This means students pursuing master’s, doctorate, and other advanced degrees in, for example, nursing, physician assistant, physical therapy, public health, social work, rehabilitation services, and pediatric care — all deemed graduate programs — are limited to borrowing $20,500 a year and up to $100,000 to complete the program.
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CHA Applauds Proposed Graduate Student Loan Assistance Program, Support for the Healthcare Workforce
