"Half the states in the country and Washington, D.C., sued the Education Department Tuesday, asking a judge to vacate the agency's decision to subject students in all but a few graduate programs to the most stringent new federal loan limits."
"That law, which Congress passed last summer, ended the Grad PLUS program, which allowed grad students to borrow up to their full cost of attendance. OBBBA replaced that with loan caps that would limit "graduate students" to borrowing $20,500 per year, or $100,000 in total, and "professional students" to borrowing $50,000 per year, or $200,000 in total."
"ED's rule-which was finalized April 30 and is set to take effect July 1-defines which degrees go into which category. The lawsuit contends that it does so illegally, in a way that contradicts Congress's intent."
"The rule says only students in 11 degree programs can borrow at the higher, "professional" level: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology and clinical psychology. ED deemed all other programs "graduate.""
Half the states and Washington, D.C. sued the Education Department, seeking to vacate a finalized rule that applies stringent federal loan limits to nearly all graduate students. The lawsuit targets parts of the rule implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which ended the Grad PLUS program and replaced it with annual and lifetime caps for graduate and professional students. The rule sets $20,500 per year and $100,000 total for graduate students, and $50,000 per year and $200,000 total for professional students. The Education Department categorizes only 11 degree programs as professional, while all other programs are treated as graduate. The lawsuit argues the categorization narrows Congress’s intent and was incorporated through a prior definition that used non-exhaustive examples.
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