lawsuit over – California and a coalition of Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over new limits on federal borrowing for nurses, physician’s assistants, therapists, and other advanced healthcare students. The administration says the caps will push unive
On a Tuesday afternoon news conference, California Attorney General Rob Bonta framed the fight in plain terms: access to education, access to care, and the cost—both financial and human—of who gets to qualify for federal student loans.
California and a coalition of other Democratic-led states filed suit against the Trump administration over new limits on federal borrowing for aspiring nurses. physician’s assistants. therapists. social workers. mental health practitioners and other healthcare workers. Bonta said the changes will further reduce a struggling but vital workforce.
“This case is about protecting access to education. protecting our healthcare workforce. and protecting patients who rely on these providers every single day. ” Bonta said during a virtual news conference Tuesday. “The Trump administration is going out of its way to make it harder and more expensive for students to pursue the advanced degrees necessary to serve their communities and pursue meaningful careers that allow them to support themselves and their families.”.
Bonta argued the rule is an illegal overreach. He said the U.S. Department of Education initiated the new limits on loans sought by nursing and other healthcare students after Republicans passed broader student loan caps as part of last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In Bonta’s view, the agency’s action goes beyond what Congress authorized and conflicts with federal law. He called the move “deeply shortsighted” and said the department “went beyond the scope of the legislation.”.
“Congress can act,” Bonta said. “But what the Department of Education can’t do is — contrary to law and in an arbitrary and capricious way and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act — redefine what a professional student is.”
The administration rejects that characterization. In response to the litigation, Trump administration officials defended the new rules, saying they will help student borrowers in the long run by driving down schooling costs at universities nationwide and preventing them from taking on too much debt.
Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a statement that the caps—“created by Congress”—are already encouraging colleges and universities to lower tuition after “decades of unchecked student loan borrowing.” Kent also criticized the lawsuit’s focus.
“Bonta and his fellow Democratic litigants are more concerned about institutions’ bottom-line [than] American students and families’ ability to access affordable postsecondary education,” Kent said.
Kent pointed to UC Irvine as an example of how institutions may respond. He said UC Irvine reduced the costs of its master’s in business programs by up to 38% to keep them below a federal loan cap for such programs.
At the center of the dispute is how the Education Department is categorizing students—and how that classification determines how much they can borrow.
The One Big Beautiful Bill. passed by Congress in July 2025. placed new limits on student loans that previously could be sought for the full cost of certain degrees. Starting this July, applicants categorized as “graduate students” will be capped at borrowing $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total. Applicants categorized as “professional students” will be allowed to borrow up to $50,000 annually and $200,000 in total.
On May 1, the U.S. Department of Education issued a new rule defining the “professional student” category as including those pursuing degrees to become doctors. pharmacists. dentists. veterinarians. lawyers. various medical specialists. pastors and other religious academics. The rule excludes those pursuing nursing and other advanced healthcare degrees.
In announcing the change. Kent said it would “simplify our complex student loan repayment system and better align higher education with workforce needs. ” “drive a sea change in higher education by holding universities accountable for outcomes and putting significant downward pressure on the cost of tuition. ” and “benefit borrowers who will no longer be pushed into insurmountable debt to finance degrees that do not pay off.”.
The healthcare sector and lawmakers pushed back sharply when the rule was made public. Healthcare industry leaders had objected during a public comment period, with some warning it would simply increase reliance on less favorable, private-sector loans.
The American Assn. of Colleges of Nursing said it and its members were “angered by the Department of Education’s failure to support the nursing profession as the demand for patient care services rises.”
Nearly 150 members of Congress—including more than a dozen Republicans—wrote a letter the day after the rule was promulgated expressing “disappointment” over the exclusion of post-baccalaureate nursing degrees. They argued that “at a time when our nation is facing a health care shortage. especially in primary care. now is not the time to cut off the student pipeline to these programs.”.
Rachel Zaentz. a spokesperson for the University of California—whose system operates a vast network of public health programs and is not a party to the lawsuit—said UC “strongly opposed” the administration’s new caps on federal loans for nurses and other health professionals. Zaentz said the changes “will be felt most strongly by lower-income graduate students.”.
“UC will continue to do all we can to ensure that cost is not a barrier for anyone who wants to pursue higher education, and we will continue to advocate with our federal partners for the programs and policies that make this possible,” Zaentz said Tuesday.
Bonta rejected the administration’s framing that the caps would help students pursuing careers in medicine avoid taking on too much debt. He called the position “tone deaf.”
Those students. Bonta said. are already “struggling with all costs right now” due to the Trump administration’s tariffs. the war in Iran. and what he described as a lax approach to regulating monopolies and other big business. He also dismissed the idea that the loan caps will force institutions to reduce costs for students. calling that “wishful thinking.”.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Maryland, is the 68th filed by Bonta’s office against the second Trump administration.
Joining Bonta are the attorneys general of Arizona. Colorado. Connecticut. Delaware. the District of Columbia. Hawaii. Illinois. Maine. Maryland. Massachusetts. Michigan. Minnesota. Nevada. New Jersey. New Mexico. New York. North Carolina. Oregon. Rhode Island. Vermont. Virginia. Washington and Wisconsin. along with the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
The conflict now hinges on whether a loan program designed to shape tuition and debt limits can lawfully redraw the boundaries of who counts as a “professional student”—and what happens to the people who plan their futures around those categories. Times staff writer Jaweed Kaleem contributed to this report.
California lawsuit Trump administration student loan caps healthcare workforce nurses physician’s assistants therapists Rob Bonta Nicholas Kent One Big Beautiful Bill Act U.S. Department of Education professional student category