A federal judge temporarily halted a Trump administration rule that would cap how much certain graduate students can borrow based on their field of study, freezing part of the Education Department’s new limits just days before they were set to take effect.
By the time the Education Department’s new graduate loan limits were supposed to start, the fight was already in court.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell. in Washington. issued an order late on Wednesday that froze—at least for now—some of the federal student loan caps created by the Department of Education. The caps were tied to limits the department was implementing as part of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill. the “one big beautiful bill act.”.
The policy had been scheduled to begin on July 1. Under the new regulations, most graduate students would be limited to $20,500 in federal borrowing per year. “Professional students” would be allowed to borrow up to $50,000 annually. Before the change, graduate students could borrow as much as their program cost to attend.
Howell’s order stayed the Education Department’s definition of a “professional degree.” The Trump administration had identified 11 degrees that it said fit the category, including medicine, dentistry and theology.
The Department of Education said it was moving ahead with its review after the ruling. “The department was ‘reviewing the order and will take appropriate action,’” said Ellen Keast, press secretary for higher education at the agency.
For the plaintiffs, the dispute wasn’t abstract. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners and others argued the rule “arbitrarily and capriciously” defined what counts as a professional degree. They said the result would bring “profound consequences” for fields excluded from the category, including nursing and education.
Skye Perryman. president and CEO of Democracy Forward. the liberal group that represented the plaintiffs. said: “We are pleased that those who rely on the Direct Loan Program to contribute to their communities by seeking degrees in nursing. public health. education. and marriage and family therapy will be able to do so.”.
Howell did not fully grant the relief the plaintiffs sought. While she set aside the administration’s professional degree definition. she did not block the government from enforcing the new graduate loan caps altogether. In her order. she said she could not remedy what she described as the plaintiffs’ “primary frustration” over the end of uncapped borrowing.
The temporary halt leaves a critical question hanging: whether the new field-based borrowing structure will survive once the court considers the limits themselves, not just the disputed definition that determines who can borrow more.
Trump administration federal student loans graduate students Judge Beryl Howell Department of Education professional degree Direct Loan Program nursing education