Unions Sue Over New Education Rule Limiting Graduate Student Loans

August 11, 2026 August 12, 2026

Editorial Staff

Legal Challenge to New Student Loan Rule by Public Service Unions

WASHINGTON—This week, a coalition of unions representing a vast number of public service and healthcare workers initiated legal action against the Department of Education’s new Reimagining and Improving Student Education rule. The contested rule imposes stringent restrictions on the amount of federal student loans available for graduate education in numerous critical and understaffed sectors. Furthermore, it disqualifies many professionals from accessing higher loan limits designated for "professional" students, impacting fields such as advanced practice nursing, public health, social work, and library sciences. The classification of these degrees as “non-professional” significantly reduces federal loan support, worsening the existing staffing shortages in these vital public service occupations.

The lawsuit contends that the Education Department's rule unlawfully redefines Congress’ interpretation of a “professional degree,” excluding essential public service careers under a regulation that has been established for decades and was reaffirmed by Congress last year. By making professional public service careers financially inaccessible, the administration is undermining communities dependent on these services.

The unions involved in the lawsuit include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Nurses United (NNU), and the AFL-CIO.

"One of the most cynical, cruel components of the Trump tax bill was the cuts to the higher education student loan program," said AFT President Randi Weingarten. "Now the effect is clear: By ‘de-professionalizing’ nursing, architecture, social work, teaching and countless other careers, the Trump administration is eviscerating education access for poor and working-class students and their families and dismantling pathways to the middle class. The court must strike down this administration’s unlawful attack on college affordability. It tells students they aren’t valued and crushes their dreams. And it harms communities across the country who rely on the services these students would provide."

"The same administration that cut healthcare to give billionaires more tax cuts is now trying to make it impossible for advanced practice nurses, social workers, public health professionals and others to afford the education they need to care for our communities," said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. "We are already facing staffing crises in too many public service professions, and this rule threatens to make the situation even more dire. The court must strike down this illegal rule to protect quality patient care, social services and public health, and ensure that workers aren’t priced out of these critical public service professions."

"This decision to exclude graduate nursing students from professional loans is an attack on the nursing profession. The rule change affects nurses pursuing a graduate degree to be a nurse practitioner, nurse midwife or certified nurse anesthetist," said NNU President Jamie Brown, RN. "Graduate students pursuing a professional degree are eligible for more than twice as much funding for each academic year and twice as much total funding than graduate nursing students. It is an insult to our profession."

"This rule shuts out the next generation of nurses, social workers and public health professionals before they even get started," said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. "The Department of Education may have decided these degrees don’t count as ‘professional,’ but communities that rely on these essential services know that this couldn’t be further from the truth. After kicking millions of working families off their healthcare, firing federal workers and gutting federal agencies, the administration is making it harder for working people to enter these careers and forcing hospitals, clinics and state and local agencies to do even more with less. The AFL-CIO is in this fight because no worker who dedicates their life to public service should be priced out of it."