Eagle Era

Changes to federal loan limits may reshape advanced education and career planning for future professionals

By Sachi Ladole

The Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was passed July 2025, proposed a redefinition of professional degrees. When this goes into effect on July 1st, 2026, a new reclassification would take away the term “professional degree” from certain programs—lowering the cumulative sum of federal loan money they can receive by $100,000. This affects nursing, dental hygiene, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, architecture, education, and accounting. 

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the change was introduced as an effort to reduce inflated prices of graduate and higher-education programs. Supporters argue the bill is largely a technical update to outdated degree classifications, pointing out that most students in fields like nursing are unlikely to reach the current loan maximum, so the financial impact would be limited. Opponents say that the change in definitions still sends a message that these careers are less valuable and could worsen existing workforce shortages.   

“Teaching—I think of it as an honor,” said Eason Chang (10), who is planning to pursue a career in education. “Parents are going out there and trusting you with their child. The world needs teachers.” Chang worries that the bill will only worsen the teacher shortage by discouraging future education majors. “If we discredit these occupations, then people will surely look down upon teachers,” Chang said. 

Data from the Learning Policy Institute shows that, as of 2025, at least 411,500 teaching positions in the United States—roughly 1 in 8 teachers nationwide—were either unfilled or filled by teachers who were not fully certified. These shortages have only risen in recent years. 

Shortages are not just limited to jobs in education. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, in 2023, U.S. nursing schools turned away over 65,760 qualified applicants due to limitations in faculty, clinical placements, and classroom capacity.

“Nursing programs are already really hard to get into,” said Krysten Castuera (12), who plans to go into nursing. “If someone were to go to university for 4 years and have to pay more, it’s going to be so much. It’s already so much.” 

Despite this, the Department of Education stated, “Data indicate that 95% of nursing students borrow below the annual loan limit and therefore are not affected by the new caps.” While most undergraduate nursing students may not experience immediate financial changes, degrees that require graduate-level education—such as advanced nursing practice or specialized teaching roles—could be impacted.

Castuera acknowledged her commitment to being a nurse but questioned the message the bill sends. “To say it’s not professional is crazy,” she said. “That will be detrimental to the future.”

Fatima Mansoor (11), who was planning on going into nursing, echoed a similar concern. “If this change happens, I don’t know if I want to do nursing anymore. I’ll probably have to reroute or stick with nursing; either way, it creates a lot more work.”

The bill could reshape how students plan for advanced degrees, making it more pertinent to balance potential cost reduction with the job that is most preferable to them. Chang stated, “If people aren’t given an incentive to work in a certain field, then we will have a deficit. It puts the next generation at risk because knowledge can be lost if it isn’t passed on.