Duane Morris
June 26, 2026
On June 24, 2026—just one week before the July 1, 2026, effective date of the new student loan limits—the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a significant ruling in American Association of Nurse Practitioners v. McMahon and the consolidated case PA Education Association v. Department of Education, staying in part implementation of the U.S. Department of Education’s new regulatory definition of “professional degree.” The stay prevents the Department from enforcing its narrowed definition, which would have limited the categories of graduate students eligible for higher federal student loan limits under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”), pending resolution of the litigation.
Why It Matters
The district court’s decision—which applies nationwide, not just to the parties in the case—represents a positive significant development for graduate and professional programs, particularly those in nursing, therapy, mental health and related fields. While the stay prevents the Department from implementing its narrowed definition, it does not resolve which additional programs will qualify as professional or when such determinations will be made. The court left this to the Department to address. Institutions must likely wait for the Department to take further action before anything changes in how aid is administered. Until the Department takes further action—whether through guidance, rulemaking or case-by-case determinations—the 11 enumerated professional degree fields remain the only programs for which institutions can likely certify students at the higher professional loan limits. Detailed analysis is provided below.