The Education Department’s new list of “professional” degrees that qualify for higher student loan limits is only driving more uncertainty among schools and financial aid administrators.

The agency’s list of “professional” degrees went from 11 to 29 total fields, after a federal judge ruled that its original standards were more restrictive than what Congress put in last year’s major tax-and-spending law. US District Judge Beryl Howell ordered the department to re-do its analysis using only the criteria in the 2025 legislation.

Some degrees originally deemed “graduate” and subject to lower limits are now “professional,” and vice versa. Advanced nursing and physician assistant degrees, for example, are now “professional.” But the department said the new list is meant to comply with the judge’s order as the case moves forward, and could change depending on her final ruling.

Those students will end up needing “to find alternative funding through private loans or out-of-pocket resources to finish their programs,” said Anthony Guida, who leads the Education Industry Group at the law firm Duane Morris. But not all of those students will meet credit and income underwriting requirements for private loans.

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