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What degrees will be classified as professional degress
Executive summary
The Department of Education has proposed a narrow regulatory definition of “professional degree” tied to student-loan limits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and several health, education and allied‑health programs — including nursing, physician assistant, physical and occupational therapy, audiology, speech‑language pathology, social work, public health, and many education master's — are reported as not being classified as professional under that proposal [1] [2]. Reporting and stakeholder notes show debate: Department spokespeople say the department’s definition aligns with historical precedent, while professional groups and lawmakers warn the change would reduce borrowing access for those fields [3] [4].
1. What the proposed definition does and why it matters
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (and related Department of Education regulatory action) links a program’s status as a “professional degree” to much higher graduate loan caps — for example, higher lifetime/annual borrowing limits for students in programs classified as professional versus other graduate students — so the classification directly affects how much students in different programs can borrow [1] [5]. The Department’s negotiated‑rulemaking work has produced a draft definition that relies on an older regulatory list of example professions but would not automatically cover many programs that stakeholders have long considered “professional,” and agencies say this is how they plan to implement the law’s loan limits [2] [4].
2. Which degrees reporting says would be excluded
Multiple media and fact‑check reports list specific programs the Education Department said it would no longer treat as “professional” in its recent proposal: nursing degrees (MSN, DNP and advanced practice roles), social work (MSW, DSW), public health (MPH, DrPH), physician assistant, occupational therapy, physical therapy, audiology, speech‑language pathology, and counseling/therapy degrees, as well as many education master’s degrees [1] [6] [2]. News outlets also reported architecture, accounting and other fields among those affected in coverage of the rule and its fallout [5] [7].
3. How stakeholders are reacting
Professional associations and academic stakeholders are mobilizing to have particular CIP codes or program types added to the “professional” list during rulemaking; for example, NASFAA reporting shows advocates asking for physician assistant and graduate nursing programs to be included [4]. ASHA (audiology/speech‑language pathology) explicitly said the Department’s initial proposal would exclude those programs and that they were organizing advocacy to change the outcome [2]. News outlets captured alarm from nursing groups and individual clinicians warning that loss of “professional” status will make programs less affordable [3] [7].
4. The Department of Education’s position and disputed claims
The Department’s press office pushed back on some headlines, with a spokesperson telling Newsweek that “this is fake news” and arguing the department has had a consistent definition for decades and that the proposed language aligns with historical precedent [3]. Fact‑checking outlets like Snopes summarized the department’s regulatory proposal and noted which credentials the department said it would not classify as professional, while also placing that reporting in the context of changes to borrowing caps under the new law [1].
5. Legal and regulatory context — why older definitions matter
The regulatory definition of “professional degree” dates to federal rules (34 CFR 668.2) that list fields such as law and medicine as illustrative examples and say the list is “not limited to” those items; that historic ambiguity is central to today’s dispute because the Department’s proposed implementation narrows which programs get higher loan limits unless explicitly included by CIP code or example [6] [2]. Negotiated rulemaking transcripts and stakeholder comments show agencies are debating whether to tie the definition to CIP codes or the older list of examples, a technical choice with major financial consequences [4] [2].
6. What’s next and the practical takeaway for students
Regulatory proposals must go through notice-and-comment and negotiated‑rulemaking processes where professional groups and institutions can push to add specific CIP codes or program names; outcomes may change before any final rule [4] [2]. For now, reporting indicates many commonly thought “professional” health and education degrees were left off the Department’s proposed list, which has sparked advocacy and legal concern — but the Department disputes some characterizations and the rule could be revised through the process [3] [1].
Limitations: available sources do not provide the final text of a definitive, post‑rulemaking regulation or a complete master list of every degree CIP code that will ultimately be classed as professional; the cited reports reflect proposals, stakeholder reactions, and preliminary administrative actions rather than a concluded, binding list [4] [2].