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ED Expands Professional Degree List to 29 Programs After Court Stay

Updated: June 30, 2026 By Robert Farrington | < 1 Min Read Leave a Comment (Edit)

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The Department of Education has temporarily widened the types of degree programs that qualify for the higher professional-student loan limits, adding fields like physician assistant, physical therapy, occupational therapy, audiology, and several advanced nursing degrees while the agency's narrower rule is paused in court.

In Electronic Announcement GENERAL-26-42, posted June 29, ED published an updated list of Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes that schools must treat as professional degree programs for federal loan limit purposes. The list now covers 29 six-digit CIP codes, well beyond the 11 fields ED originally named in its Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) final rule.

The change is a direct response to a court order. On June 24, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia preliminarily stayed part of ED's professional degree definition just days before the rule's July 1 effective date.