On July 10, 2026, the Department of Education (ED) provided an update to its List of Professional Degree Programs due to a Court Order. This list was originally issued on June 29 in response to a court order that preliminarily set aside and stayed certain aspects of the definition of “professional degree” under ED’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) final rule.

ED issued the RISE final rule on May 1, which implemented changes from HR 1 to federal student loan limits for graduate and professional degree programs. HR 1 established two tiers of loan caps: students enrolled in graduate programs may borrow up to $20,500 annually with a $100,000 lifetime limit, while students in programs classified as awarding a “professional degree” may access up to $50,000 annually and $200,000 total. Because the RISE final rule defines what constitutes a “professional degree,” it directly affects which students qualify for the higher borrowing limits. LeadingAge opposed the rulemaking because of the likely negative impact to educational pipelines for several fields that are integral to the aging services sector, including nursing and rehab therapies.

For the duration of the court’s preliminary stay, ED is treating an interim list of programs as awarding professional degrees for the purpose of administering statutory loan limits, which includes speech, physical, and occupational therapies, as well as registered nursing. T ED is also amending the Clinical Psychology program entry (42.2801) to include the Ph.D. designation, which was inadvertently not included in the initial list.

In addition to keeping members up to date on this ongoing litigation, we are also assessing several legislative proposals that aim address the implications of the RISE rule’s “professional degree” definition.