Communications

(June 30, 2026) - Last week, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling to stay implementation of the portion of the U.S. Department of Education’s final rule defining “professional student” for new federal student loan caps. The Department’s final rule did not consider nursing, physician assistants, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work and many other health care roles as “professional,” thereby severely limiting the federal loans those students could receive. 

Throughout this year, the Kansas Hospital Association has advocated for all health care roles to be recognized to be professional, particularly at a time when Kansas and many other states face health care workforce shortages. This ruling enables various professions to access higher loan limits, at least for now, while the department appeals.