Overview
- Education Department guidance implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill sets caps of $20,500 per year and $100,000 lifetime for most graduate programs, with $50,000 per year and $200,000 lifetime for a narrower set of “professional” degrees.
- Nursing is not on the department’s professional list, placing many advanced nursing degrees under the lower cap; officials say the designation is an internal loan-category definition rather than a value judgment.
- The policy would phase out Grad PLUS for new borrowers, and limited grandfathering may apply to students with loans disbursed before July 1, 2026 depending on timing and school certification.
- Students, unions, and hospital leaders warn the changes could push borrowers toward costlier private credit and deter enrollment, citing a projected national shortfall of 78,610 full-time RNs in 2025 and Connecticut’s annual need for about 3,000 hires versus 2,682 enrollments last year.
- The department defends the limits as commonsense steps to curb over-borrowing and restrain program costs, and the draft rule remains open for public comment before any final decision.