Where can I find the official Dept. of Education guidance or CFR citation listing these 11 professional categories?
Executive summary
The Department of Education has circulated a proposed or internal definition of “professional degree” that — in recent reporting — lists roughly 11 fields (commonly reported as medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology and clinical psychology), and the agency says that list is intended to determine loan caps rather than confer status [1] [2]. Official regulatory text is not yet in final form: reporting says the Department will publish a regulation in the Federal Register and that the Education Department released a fact sheet and “myth vs. fact” statement about the definition [3] [2].
1. Where to look first — the Department of Education’s own pages
The most direct places to find the Department’s official language are ED press materials and its regulatory notices: ED published a November 24 “Myth vs. Fact” press release discussing the definition and a fact sheet referenced in news stories [2] [3]. For a finalized rule or proposed rule you should watch ED’s Federal Register entries and the Department’s Higher Education or Office of Communications pages where regulatory proposals and fact sheets are typically posted [3] [2]. Available sources do not mention a single CFR citation text already published as final.
2. The CFR claim — what reporters and fact‑checkers say now
Several outlets report the Education Department is using a narrow interpretation tied to student‑loan limits and points back to existing regulatory language (34 CFR 668.2 is cited by Snopes as foundational), but they also note the Department’s specific, updated list comes from negotiated rulemaking and internal guidance rather than a finalized change to the Code of Federal Regulations yet [4] [3]. Snopes explicitly states ED is relying on the regulatory definition first outlined in 1965 and points readers to 34 CFR 668.2 [4]. The Department’s own materials emphasize the list is not a value judgment and that further rulemaking (public comment) will follow [3] [2].
3. The widely reported “11 fields” — consistent but contested
Multiple outlets reproduce a similar list of roughly eleven professional fields — for example Yahoo, World Socialist Web Site, and others published the enumeration including medicine, law, dentistry, theology and clinical psychology among the fields ED will recognize for higher loan caps [1] [5]. Reporting differs on whether that list is exhaustive; ED statements and some outlets note the list is not strictly limited to those categories and that licensure/degree level factors into the determination [6] [7].
4. Disputes and who’s pushing back
Professional associations — nursing, public health, audiology, speech‑language pathology, social work and others — have raised alarms that their fields are being excluded from the department’s proposed loan-cap “professional” category, and groups like ASPPH and ASHA have published responses arguing the practical effects on students and workforce pipelines [8] [9]. ED pushed back in its “myth vs. fact” release calling some online claims “misinformation” while also clarifying the definition’s link to loan limits rather than professional worth [2]. This is a classic policy dispute: associations highlight workforce and access impacts; ED emphasizes fiscal and regulatory intent [8] [2].
5. Where a formal CFR citation would appear and timing
If ED issues a formal proposed or final regulatory change, it will appear in the Federal Register and then be codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (likely under Title 34, student assistance provisions such as 34 CFR 668). Multiple reports say ED will publish the regulation in the Federal Register in the coming months and that negotiated rulemaking informed the current wording [3] [10]. Until that Federal Register notice and subsequent CFR amendment are published, the precise CFR citation for the new “11 categories” is not available in the sources provided [3] [4].
6. Practical next steps for confirmation
To confirm the official text and any CFR citation: (a) check the Department of Education’s regulations and press pages for a Federal Register notice and the posted proposed or final rule (ED’s press/fact‑sheet pages have already posted statements) [2] [3]; (b) inspect the Federal Register and the eCFR under 34 CFR (reporting points readers to 34 CFR 668.2 as the standing general definition) [4]; and (c) review stakeholder responses from professional associations for clarifying documents and legal analyses [8] [9]. Reporting indicates rulemaking is forthcoming, so the definitive CFR language will be available once that Federal Register notice is published [3].
Limitations: Current reporting and ED press materials show an agency position and list but do not, in the provided sources, include a published final CFR citation containing the eleven‑field list — the Federal Register entry is reported as forthcoming [3] [4].