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A federal judge in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Education Department from imposing new loan borrowing limits on graduate and professional students a week before they were set to go into effect.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the limits from the department violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by adding requirements to the definition of “professional degree” not authorized by Congress. The APA governs how federal agencies can make rules and allows federal courts to oversee that process.
The Hill has reached out to the Education Department for comment.
Under the Education Department’s new rule, graduate and professional students would be able to borrow up to $100,000 and $200,000 in loans, respectively. Annually, the two groups of students can borrow up to $20,500 and $50,000 in loans, respectively.
The rule was set to go into effect on July 1, nearly a year after President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill directed the Education Department to impose new student loan limits and phase out the Graduate PLUS loan program.
Eleven programs qualify as “professional” degrees under the rule, including chiropractic, dentistry, medicine, pharmacy and theology. Nursing and physician assistant (PA) programs, though, did not qualify.
That distinction was the subject of separate lawsuits against the Education Department, one filed by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and other nursing advocacy groups last month and another by the PA Education Association (PAEA) and other affiliated groups filed earlier this month.
In the combined suits, Howell backed the joint plaintiffs’ assertion that the rule would irreparably harm impacted students.
“Plaintiffs in both suits have established that they are likely to succeed on their APA claim that the Rule’s definition of ‘professional degree’ is contrary to law, that they would suffer irreparable harm should the Rule go into effect, and that the balance of equities and the public interest are in their favor,” wrote Howell, an appointee of former President Obama, in a 52-page ruling.
Officials from the PAEA and the American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) praised Howell’s ruling as “an important step forward” for impacted students.
“By granting preliminary relief, the Court recognized that the harm caused by this rule is too significant to ignore and that PA students should not be forced to suffer its consequences while the case is being decided,” the groups noted in a joint statement.
The median tuition for in-state and out-of-state PA students is nearly $97,000 and more than $101,200, respectively, according to the AAPA. The group noted in February the total cost of attendance for PA students “often exceeds” $200,000 when factoring in housing, fees, supplies and other necessary expenses.
The AAPA and PAEA later said they were “confident” in the merits of their case once the combined suits play out.
While Howell blocked the rule from going into effect on Wednesday, the judge wrote she could not remedy the plaintiffs’ “primary frustration” over the OBBBA requiring the Education Department to impose limits in the first place.
“Plaintiffs are mistaken in asserting that the statutory loan caps cannot be enforced until the Department promulgates a lawful ‘replacement rule,’” Howell noted.
Nathaniel Wexel contributed reporting.
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