Which master's and doctoral degrees did the Department of Education label non-professional in 2025?

1. What the Department of Education’s change actually did — a short, plain answer

The Education Department’s draft implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1) and its convened committee proposed limiting which programs count as “professional” for purposes of higher graduate borrowing caps; outlets reporting the committee’s work or the department’s list show medicine, pharmacy, law, dentistry, osteopathy, optometry, podiatry, chiropractic, veterinary medicine, theology and clinical psychology remained listed as professional, while nursing (MSN, DNP), many allied‑health degrees, education master’s, social work, public health, physician assistant and several other fields were not included on the department’s list ^{[2] [3] [1]}.

2. Why this matters for students and loan limits

Under the OBBA and the Department’s RAP design, students in programs defined as “professional” can access higher annual and lifetime loan caps (reports cite a $50,000 annual cap for professional programs and other lower caps for non‑professional graduate students); losing “professional” status therefore changes eligibility for the largest graduate borrowing allowances and could reduce access to funding for costly programs ^{[3] [1]}.

3. Which specific master’s and doctoral degrees were called out repeatedly in reporting

Multiple outlets and fact‑checks list nursing (postbaccalaureate MSNs, DNPs, NP tracks), education master’s (teaching degrees), social work (MSW, DSW), public health (MPH, DrPH), physician assistant, occupational therapy, physical therapy, audiology, speech‑language pathology, counseling and therapy fields, architecture, accounting and certain business/engineering programs as excluded from the department’s list of professional degree programs in the draft rules or committee notes ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

4. Department’s defense and legal framing

The Department of Education told Newsweek it relied on a decades‑old regulatory definition of “professional degree” (citing 34 CFR 668.2) and said the committee’s consensus language aligns with historical precedent; the department also indicated final rules would follow, with expected release by spring 2026 at the latest ^{[4] [1]}.

5. Pushback from professional associations and critics

Nursing groups such as the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the American Nurses Association strongly objected, saying excluding nursing contradicts parity across health professions and undermines licensure‑to‑practice pathways; other universities and associations warned that narrowing the list threatens access to entire fields and the nation’s workforce pipelines ^{[5] [6] [7]}.

6. Discrepancies, rumors and where reporting diverges

Different outlets offer overlapping but not identical lists. Snopes summarizes a clear list of exclusions (education, nursing, social work, public health and several allied health fields) ^[1], while some social posts circulated longer, less‑sourced lists that mixed Department of Education actions with separate Department of Labor classification changes — a conflation that reporters warned about ^[8]. Newsweek published the department’s rebuttal that some characterizations were “fake news,” even as it reported the contested exclusions ^[4].

7. What’s still unresolved or missing from current reporting

Available sources state the department planned to release final rules in 2026 and note the committee reached consensus on limited “professional” categories, but they do not provide the final, legally binding regulatory text or an exhaustive codified list differentiating every specific degree title across institutions; therefore, precise treatment of every program credential at every school is not yet documented in these reports ^{[1] [7]}.

8. Bottom line for readers and students evaluating graduate study

If you plan graduate study in nursing, education, social work, public health, many allied‑health fields, accounting, architecture or certain business/engineering areas, multiple reputable news outlets and a Snopes summary report that the Department’s 2025 proposal/committee outcome did not classify those programs as “professional,” which could limit access to the highest graduate loan caps — but the department argues it has used longstanding regulatory language and final rules were pending as of late 2025, so the situation could change with formal rulemaking ^{[3] [1] [4]}.