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Which November 2025 or earlier Department of Education announcements list added professional degrees and approval dates?
Executive summary
The Department of Education’s negotiated-rulemaking work in 2025 produced a high-profile proposal that narrows which graduate programs count as “professional degrees,” with stakeholders reporting an initial list of 11 primary programs and multiple health, education, and counseling fields left off that list — sparking widespread coverage and pushback [1] [2]. The Department publicly posted materials from the RISE committee and a “myth vs. fact” sheet defending the approach while many professional associations and news outlets described specific degrees (nursing, public health, social work, audiology, speech‑language pathology, counseling, physical/occupational therapy, physician assistant) as excluded in the Department’s proposal [3] [4] [2] [5].
1. What announcements actually list “added professional degrees” and approval dates — and where those lists appear
The specific public record in these search results centers on the Department’s negotiated rulemaking (the RISE committee) and associated press and advocacy responses; the primary public summaries note a draft/consensus list from the negotiated‑rulemaking process rather than a final, published Code of Federal Regulations entry with statutory “approval dates” [3] [1]. The Association of American Universities summarized the RISE committee’s consensus recognizing 11 “primary” professional programs (including medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, law, and clinical psychology as newly added), and advocacy groups reported which fields the committee’s draft excluded — but that output is described as draft regulatory language from the committee, not a final Department rule with an effective/approval date in the Federal Register in these sources [1] [3].
2. What the Department of Education has posted publicly about definitions and timing
ED posted negotiated‑rulemaking materials and convened committees in November 2025 to develop definitions required by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; the Department and its RISE committee reached consensus on draft regulatory proposals for implementing student‑loan provisions, and the Department issued a “myth vs. fact” sheet defending the proposed approach [3] [6] [4]. EducationCounsel’s summary and the Department’s documents indicate these are proposals intended to be implemented in regulations that could take effect in the next award year (ED materials show committee sessions and the negotiation timeline), but these search results do not include a final Federal Register rule text with an approval date for a definitive professional‑degree list [3] [6].
3. Which degrees stakeholders say were added or excluded in the draft
Reporting compiled from negotiated‑rulemaking summaries and advocacy groups shows consensus on recognizing a limited set of professional programs (the AAU list of 11 primary programs: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology, and clinical psychology) while many other graduate fields commonly thought of as “professional” were described as excluded in the draft, including nursing (MSN, DNP), social work (MSW, DSW), public health (MPH, DrPH), physician assistant, occupational/physical therapy, audiology, speech‑language pathology, counseling and therapy degrees [1] [2] [5]. Advocacy groups such as ASHA and ASPPH explicitly flagged audiology, SLP, and public health degrees as excluded and began mobilizing responses [5] [7].
4. Conflicting narratives and official pushback
News outlets, trade associations, and fact‑checkers reported the draft exclusions widely; the Department’s “myth vs. fact” framing argued that the new limits relate to graduate loan caps and do not affect undergraduate programs and that the Department’s actions implement statutory direction in OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) [4] [6]. Snopes and multiple press stories summarized the Department’s proposed exclusions and the resulting controversy, while ED’s fact sheet sought to counter claims that the agency was denigrating particular professions [2] [4].
5. Where to find definitive, formal listings and effective dates (what’s missing here)
Definitive authoritative listings and official effective or “approval” dates would appear in a final rule published in the Federal Register that adopts regulatory text and an effective date; the provided search results include Federal Register notices about other ED actions and the negotiated‑rulemaking schedule but do not include a final Federal Register rule text that lists the final professional‑degree categories with an official approval/effective date [8] [9] [10]. Therefore available sources do not mention a completed Federal Register rule that finalizes the list with an approval date.
6. Bottom line and practical next steps for readers seeking the authoritative list
If you need a legally binding, dated list, check the Federal Register and the Department of Education’s rules pages for a final rule adopting the RISE committee’s language — that’s where an “approval” and effective date would appear; current materials in these results document draft/consensus proposals, advocacy responses, ED explanations, and coverage of exclusions but not a finalized rule with an approval date [8] [3] [4]. For tracking immediate impacts and stakeholder reactions, watch ED’s press page and association statements [11] [5] [7].