Federal Judge Blocks Trump-Era Graduate Student Borrowing Cap Rule

A U.S. federal judge has issued a temporary block on a Trump administration regulation that would have drastically slashed the maximum amount certain graduate students could borrow to fund their higher education.

Under the proposed new rule, the U.S. Department of Education excluded disciplines including nursing, K-12 education, social work, and accounting from a curated list of 11 fields deemed eligible for "professional" degree classification. The policy was originally slated to go into effect on July 1.

On Wednesday, Beryl Howell, U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia, halted the regulation’s implementation. She ruled that the administration’s classification change likely violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act, and that the executive branch lacked legal authority to narrow the official definition of what counts as a "professional" graduate degree.

“By locking in the preexisting definition that was already in effect on a specific statutory date, Congress removed any discretionary power the Department of Education may have had to shrink that definition for the purpose of setting federal student loan caps,” Howell wrote in her ruling.

The judge’s decision follows a lawsuit filed by six industry associations representing advanced practice nursing, clinical therapy, public health, and education sectors. The groups challenged the Trump-era borrowing caps, arguing the rule would cut off access to critical funding that a large share of future advanced practice nurses rely on to complete their graduate training.

Current federal borrowing limits for professional degree programs are capped at $50,000 per academic year, with a total cumulative limit of $200,000. By comparison, graduate students pursuing degrees outside the professional classification face much lower caps: $20,500 per year and a total lifetime limit of $100,000.