Two healthcare groups are suing President Donald Trump’s Education Department over its upcoming changes to federal student loans for graduate students.
Starting July 1, federal student loans for new graduate students will be capped annually at $20,500, with an overall limit of $100,000. Graduate students in programs designated as “professional” will have a higher annual limit of $50,000 and a total limit of $200,000. That “professional” designation only applies to a handful of fields, including law, medicine and dentistry.
Now, two healthcare groups are suing the Education Department over the rule and requesting a preliminary injunction to stop it from taking effect for physician associate and assistant students, who will otherwise be subject to that lower borrowing tier.
The American Academy of Physician Associates and PA Education Association filed the complaint Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The Education Department “exceeded its authority and created a definition that will have devastating consequences” for PA students and the field overall, according to Lisa Gables, CEO of the American Academy of Physician Associates.
The Education Department’s rule “unlawfully redefines professional degree programs,” the groups alleged in a motion for preliminary injunction. They want the Education Department to extend the “professional” label to PA students, which would grant them access to that higher federal loan limit, according to the motion.
“PA programs meet every element of the professional degree definition that Congress established in law; they award entry-level master’s degrees, require rigorous clinical training, and lead to professional licensure in all 50 states. We are in court to ensure the law is implemented as Congress intended,” Gables said Wednesday in a press release.
Ellen Keast, the Education Department’s press secretary for higher education, said there are “several examples” of colleges and universities that are “already lowering the cost of tuition” in response to the legislation that created the annual cap.
She added that colleges and universities “have been able to charge virtually unlimited tuition, even as many student loan borrowers see little to no return on their investment” for the last 20 years.
“During this time, tuition has risen faster than any other household expense, and 71 percent of graduates with debt report delaying major life milestones, while institutions have taken in billions at the expense of young Americans’ financial stability,” Keast said in a statement to The Independent.
“The Trump Administration is working to correct this longstanding imbalance by ending a system that pushed students into debt they often could not repay and by promoting access to high quality education that serves students, not institutional bottom lines,” she added.
The average tuition for a PA program is “several times higher than the proposed annual loan limit,” which is creating an “immediate and significant barrier to entering the profession,” according to the groups suing the Education Department. More than three-quarters of PA students who took out federal loans during the 2023-2024 school year borrowed above the upcoming annual cap of $20,500, the groups said.
PA programs, which are completed after obtaining a bachelor’s degree, typically take about 3 years. Graduates must then take a certification exam before they can be licensed.
