Expanding “Professional Degrees” Would Just Expand Unmanageable Student Debt

Most people who reach a certain stage in their careers rightly consider themselves professionals. But being a professional doesn’t mean taking on $200,000 of debt for graduate school is a good idea. Unfortunately, this fairly obvious lesson is lost on some members of Congress.

Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) imposed limits on graduate student loans from the federal government for the first time since 2006. Graduate degrees may be one of two categories—standard degrees, for which the aggregate federal loan limit is $100,000, and “professional” degrees, which have a loan limit of $200,000. The logic is to ensure that student debt stays reasonable for most graduate students, while maintaining higher loan limits for certain high-cost degrees that lead to high-wage careers.

The Ed