Social workers and nurses have one month to preserve their existing access to federal graduate student loans. Under the Department of Education’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) final rule, published on May 1 and scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2026, new borrowers in MSW, DSW, nursing, and other excluded graduate programs would lose access to Grad PLUS loans and be subject to federal borrowing limits of $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total. By contrast, students in Department-recognized professional degree programs, including law, medicine, theology, and clinical psychology, would remain eligible for higher federal borrowing limits of up to $50,000 annually and $200,000 in total. If these limits take effect, many social work students—particularly those without family financial support or safe access to private lending—may be effectively priced out of graduate education. The consequences would fall most heavily on low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color.
Social Workers for Justice, a New York-based advocacy and organizing coalition of individuals, organizations, and community partners, convened a virtual forum to raise awareness of this coming calamity. The May 19 meeting, “The Clock is Ticking: Social Work, Federal Student Loans, & the Fight for our Profession,” emphasized that this was not just an education and finance issue but a workforce issue, a mental health access issue, and a direct challenge to the nation’s ability to meet the needs of vulnerable communities.
The discussion was moderated by Luisa Lopez, Executive Director of the Latino Social Work Coalition, and Jacqueline Mondros, Dean and Professor Emeritus of the Stony Brook School of Social Welfare. The panelists were Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) President and CEO Halaevalu Vakalahi, Dr. Debra McPhee, Dean of Fordham University’s School of Social Welfare, and Jessyca Vandercoy, co-founder of Whole Collective, representing the frontline perspective.
Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY-15) opened the forum with an overview of H.R. 6677—The Professional Degree Access Restoration Act, a bill he introduced in December to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to reverse the loan caps and restore access to loan levels necessary for social work education once tuition, fees, transportation, books, and living expenses are included. The bill has attracted dozens of cosponsors. CSWE and the National Association of Social Work (NASW) issued a joint statement in support of the bill and other legislation proposed to address the exclusion.
However, efforts to address the RISE final rule through legislation have little hope of effecting change before the rule kicks in on July 1st. At best, legislation could restore the higher limits should Democrats regain control of the House after the midterms, but that control would not take effect until January. Even if Democrats regain the House, they will also need to capture the Senate by a large enough majority to override Trump’s veto.
Yet social work, nursing, and other professions excluded from the “professional” loan category have a compelling argument that students, programs, and ultimately the nation would suffer irreparable harm if the RISE final rule is allowed to proceed. A coalition of 25 states, including the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit asserting the rule will price many students out of entering the healthcare workforce and harm public higher education institutions. The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Education invented restrictive criteria not found in the original statute.
The ED’s final rule claims professional degrees must “generally be at the doctoral level.” However, the statutory definition merely requires that a degree signify the skill required to begin practice beyond a bachelor’s level and prepare students for licensed fields. In fact, three of the historical programs on the ED’s own baseline list are not doctoral degrees. The plaintiffs can present evidence that this will choke the healthcare pipeline during a time when there is a need for more healthcare workers, and further shortages are counterproductive to the public interest.
If fewer students can afford social work and nursing education, the result will not simply be smaller graduate programs. It will mean fewer mental health providers, school social workers, child welfare professionals, hospital social workers, and practitioners in rural and underserved communities. The cost will be borne by families, schools, hospitals, courts, and law enforcement systems, which are already absorbing the consequences of unmet behavioral-health needs.
The case has been filed in the U.S. District Court in Maryland. With the rule set to take effect on July 1, 2026, the plaintiffs have a strong basis to seek emergency relief from a federal judge. They can make a credible showing of irreparable harm: once the 2026–2027 academic year begins, students will have altered enrollment decisions, public universities may lose tuition revenue, and states may face deeper shortages in the health care and behavioral health workforce.
With the right strategy, this case could be settled in the court of public opinion. We need to make some noise and capture the public’s attention. We must make the case that the public will suffer if the RISE final rule goes into effect. We need champions—Congressmembers and Senators—to make the case to the media. The focus should not be on unfairness. It should be on the nation’s well-being. How can we Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) if we severely curtail our healthcare workforce? Social work and nursing should not be treated as secondary professions when the nation depends on us to hold together its mental health, health care, child welfare, school, aging, and community-service systems. This is not a fight over professional status. It is a fight over whether the country is serious about building the workforce it claims to need. The clock is ticking, and silence is not a strategy.