Among other crucial provisions that have been eliminated by the Trump administration in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is Graduate PLUS loans — which currently allow students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance, allowing them to obtain their graduate degree. The bill also imposes strict borrowing caps: $20,500 per year and $100,000 total for most graduate students, and $50,000 per year and $200,000 total for students enrolling in programs that the Department of Education deems “professional.”

In addition, OBBBA imposes a new $257,500 lifetime limit on all federal student loans, including those used for undergraduate education. This means that many students —particularly those from low-income backgrounds and first-generation students, who rely heavily on federal loans to complete their bachelor’s degrees — may reach their borrowing limit before completing their graduate degree. This shift may force students toward private lenders or derail their educational pathway altogether.

The severe workforce shortages in nursing, social work, mental-health care, and K-12 education that these new regulations will cause will be worsened by lower federal borrowing limits at a moment when communities can least afford it

Federal officials claim that recent changes to graduate-student borrowing rules will help “drive down tuition.” But behind that rhetoric is a far more troubling reality and a bleak future.

In short, the bar to achieve a graduate degree just got higher — and for some students, pursuing higher education will become completely out of reach.

Under the Department of Education’s proposed narrow definition of “professional” programs, only a small cluster of fields would qualify for higher borrowing caps. Meanwhile, the vast majority of graduate students who are in fields such as nursing, teaching, counseling, and social work would be restricted to less than half the annual amount available to students in medicine and law. The $20,500 annual limit does not cover the average annual cost of most graduate programs, let alone rent, food, transportation, and other essentials. Additionally, with the elimination of Grad PLUS, which once allowed students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance, students now have even fewer options to bridge that gap.

In 2021–22, nearly 56% of all graduate degrees were awarded in master’s programs in business, education, health professions, public administration, and computer science — none of which qualify as “professional” under the Department of Education’s proposed definition.

These proposed changes to federal graduate-student loan policies would deliberately and disproportionately underfund the degrees that keep hospitals, clinics, schools, and community organizations running. The severe workforce shortages in nursing, social work, mental-health care, and K-12 education that these new regulations will cause will be worsened by lower federal borrowing limits at a moment when communities can least afford it.

What’s more, the impact will fall disproportionately on women, who make up the majority of students in many care- and service-oriented graduate programs. This stands in stark contrast to public claims from the current administration about empowering women and supporting families. Not labeling these degrees as “professional” also sends a symbolic message about whose work is valued and whose is expendable.

This brief examines how the proposed loan limits would reshape graduate education, who would be most affected, and which essential fields face the greatest risk. It also outlines why current federal policy fails to meet the realities of graduate education.

Download the Brief (PDF)

This is not a technical policy update. This is another chapter in what EdTrust calls the Great American Heist — a sweeping theft of the resources and supports that schools, communities, and students need to succeed.

If we want a stable, well-trained workforce to safeguard our communities, then federal financial-aid policy must support — not undercut — the students who choose these vital careers. Major professional organizations such as the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) have already issued public statements and mobilized petitions warning that the proposed loan limitations jeopardize the nursing workforce and threaten patient care.

The stakes are too high to not act. EdTrust calls on the public to join the growing number of professional organizations already raising awareness about the impact of these proposed changes.