The U.S. Department of Education finalized limits on federal loans for graduate programs on Nov. 6, and changes have sparked disapproval from many professional groups.

Along with eliminating the Grad PLUS loan program and limiting public service loan forgiveness , the rules limit the $200,000 lifetime loan cap to 10 professional degree programs.

Programs no longer considered “professional” include nursing, speech-language pathology, physical therapy, physician’s assistants and more.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing and other industry associations pushed back at the idea of no longer being considered “professional” and relegated to $100,000 in loans, the same as other graduate or doctoral programs.

What is a ‘professional degree?’

According to final rules within the

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