President Donald Trump and his administration will begin imposing new limits on federal student loans disbursed after July 1, 2026.
Undergraduate borrowers are subject to the same annual maximum limit of $7,500 for dependent students, depending on their class year. However, new limits will be placed on graduate and professional students: up to $20,500 per year ($100,000 total) for graduate studies and $50,000 per year ($200,000 total) for professional programs.
The Graduate PLUS loan, which previously allowed students to borrow up to the total cost of attendance, will be abolished.
According to the proposed regulations, a professional degree “represents both the completion of the academic requirements to begin practice in a particular specialty and a level of professional skill beyond that normally required for a bachelor’s degree.”
The Department of Education has designated 11 degree fields that will be subject to higher loan limits under the new rules to meet the requirements to be considered a specialist.
Pharmacy (Pharm. D.) Doctor of Dentistry (DDS or DMS) Veterinary Medicine (DVM) Chiropractic (DC or DCM) Law (LLB or JD) Medicine (MD) Optometry (OD) Osteopathic Medicine (DO) Podiatry (DPM, DP, or Pod.D.) Theology (M.Div. or MHL) Clinical Psychology (Psy.D. or Ph.D.)
The addition of clinical psychology grew out of the Department’s recent rulemaking negotiation session, where stakeholders discussed loan limit rules and how they should be applied.
The ministry also said programs in at least 44 other fields may qualify if they meet certain criteria, such as giving students “a level of professional skill beyond that normally required for a bachelor’s degree,” typically a doctoral-level degree, and requiring a professional license to begin practice.
Possible programs include many other pharmacy degrees, clinical counseling, and theological studies. Sarah Austin, a policy analyst with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said it is up to institutions to determine whether their programs meet the requirements to be considered a professional degree.
Supported by specialized organizations
Some professional organizations have raised concerns about the list of degrees eligible for the total $200,000 federal loan limit and the Department of Education’s definition of professional programs.
“Despite the widespread recognition of the complexity, rigor, and need for postbaccalaureate nursing education, the Department’s proposal defines specialty programs so narrowly that it still excludes nursing, the nation’s largest health profession,” the American Association of Colleges of Nursing said in a Nov. 7 press release. “If this proposal is finalized, the impact on an already struggling nursing workforce would be devastating.”
“The declassification of the (Master’s of Social Work) and (Doctor of Social Work) degrees will reduce access to affordable social work education, resulting in increased reliance on high-interest private loans,” the Florida Chapter of the American Association of Social Workers said in a Nov. 20 press release.
“The definition of ‘professional degree’ is an internal definition used by the Department to distinguish programs eligible for higher loan limits and is not a value judgment about the importance of a program. It is not related to whether a program is specialized in nature,” the Department of Education said in a fact sheet released Nov. 24.
The ministry said the intention behind the loan restrictions is to discourage borrowers from taking on more debt than they can handle and to encourage institutions to control tuition costs.
However, loan limit regulations are not final. The Department of Education plans to post the regulation in its current form on the federal register in the coming months, giving the public an opportunity to provide feedback before finalizing it.
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