{"id":755,"date":"2026-05-19T22:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=755"},"modified":"2026-05-19T22:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T22:00:20","slug":"california-other-states-sue-over-new-trump-limits-on-loans-for-nurses-pas-therapists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=755","title":{"rendered":"California, other states sue over new Trump limits on loans for nurses, PAs, therapists"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

California and a coalition of other Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over new limits on federal borrowing by aspiring nurses, physician\u2019s assistants, therapists, social workers, mental health practitioners and other healthcare workers, arguing the changes will further reduce a struggling but vital workforce.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis case is about protecting access to education, protecting our healthcare workforce, and protecting patients who rely on these providers every single day,\u201d California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said during a virtual news conference Tuesday. \u201cThe Trump administration is going out of its way to make it harder and more expensive for students to pursue the advanced degrees necessary to serve their communities and pursue meaningful careers that allow them to support themselves and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonta said the new limits on loans sought by nursing and other healthcare students \u2014 which the U.S. Department of Education initiated in response to Republicans passing broader student loan caps as part of last year\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d \u2014 was an illegal overreach by the agency that was \u201cdeeply shortsighted\u201d and went beyond the scope of the legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress can act,\u201d he said. \u201cBut what the Department of Education can\u2019t do is \u2014 contrary to law and in an arbitrary and capricious way and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act \u2014 redefine what a professional student is.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the litigation, Trump administration officials defended the new rules, saying they will help student borrowers in the long run by driving down schooling costs at universities nationwide and preventing them from taking on too much debt.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter decades of unchecked student loan borrowing that gave schools no reason to control costs, these commonsense loan caps \u2014 created by Congress \u2014 are already incentivizing colleges and universities to lower tuition,\u201d Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a statement to The Times.<\/p>\n

Kent said Bonta and his fellow Democratic litigants \u201care more concerned about institutions\u2019 bottom-line [than] American students and families\u2019 ability to access affordable postsecondary education.\u201d As one example of institutions responding to loan caps by lowering costs, Kent pointed to UC Irvine reducing the costs of its masters in business programs by up to 38% to keep them below a federal loan cap for business programs.<\/p>\n

The One Big Beautiful Bill, passed by Congress in July 2025, placed new limits on student loans, which could previously be sought for the full cost of such degrees. Starting this July, applicants categorized as \u201cgraduate students\u201d will be capped at borrowing $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total, while applicants categorized as \u201cprofessional students\u201d will be allowed to borrow up to $50,000 annually and $200,000 in total.<\/p>\n

On May 1, the U.S. Department of Education issued a new rule defining the \u201cprofessional student\u201d category as including those pursuing degrees to become doctors, pharmacists, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers, several medical specialists, pastors and other religious academics, and excluding those pursuing nursing and other advanced healthcare degrees.<\/p>\n

In announcing the change, Kent said it would \u201csimplify our complex student loan repayment system and better align higher education with workforce needs,\u201d \u201cdrive a sea change in higher education by holding universities accountable for outcomes and putting significant downward pressure on the cost of tuition,\u201d and \u201cbenefit borrowers who will no longer be pushed into insurmountable debt to finance degrees that do not pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Others fiercely disagreed, including healthcare industry leaders who had also objected to the rule change during a public comment period. Some argued the changes would simply increase student reliance on less favorable, private sector loans.<\/p>\n

The American Assn. of Colleges of Nursing, in a statement, said it and its members were \u201cangered by the Department of Education\u2019s failure to support the nursing profession as the demand for patient care services rises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 150 members of Congress \u2014 including more than a dozen Republicans \u2014 wrote a letter the day after the rule was promulgated expressing \u201cdisappointment\u201d over the exclusion of post-baccalaureate nursing degrees. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when our nation is facing a health care shortage, especially in primary care, now is not the time to cut off the student pipeline to these programs,\u201d the lawmakers argued. <\/p>\n

Rachel Zaentz, a spokesperson for the University of California, which is not party to the lawsuit but operates a vast network of public health programs, said in a statement Tuesday that UC \u201cstrongly opposed\u201d the administration\u2019s new caps on federal loans for nurses and other health professionals, which she said \u201cwill be felt most strongly by lower-income graduate students.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUC will continue to do all we can to ensure that cost is not a barrier for anyone who wants to pursue higher education, and we will continue to advocate with our federal partners for the programs and policies that make this possible,\u201d Zaentz said.<\/p>\n

Bonta rejected the administration\u2019s argument that the new caps would help students pursuing a dream of a medical career avoid taking on too much debt \u2014 calling it \u201ctone deaf.\u201d He said those students are already \u201cstruggling with all costs right now\u201d thanks to the Trump administration\u2019s tariffs, war in Iran and lax approach to regulating monopolies and other big business.<\/p>\n

He also rejected the idea that the new loan caps would force institutions to reduce costs for students, calling that \u201cwishful thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is the 68th filed by Bonta\u2019s office against the second Trump administration. Joining Bonta in the lawsuit \u2014 which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Maryland \u2014 were the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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Times staff writer Jaweed Kaleem contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California and other Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over new limits on federal borrowing by students in healthcare fields.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia, other states sue over new Trump limits on loans for nurses, PAs, therapists - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=755\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California, other states sue over new Trump limits on loans for nurses, PAs, therapists - California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"California and other Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over new limits on federal borrowing by students in healthcare fields.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=755\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"California Relocation Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T22:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b85b48ca4c2015dd056e0e9c18912121\"},\"headline\":\"California, other states sue over new Trump limits on loans for nurses, PAs, therapists\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T22:00:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755\"},\"wordCount\":1018,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aea659d9a0267a48921ca4149d587def-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755\",\"name\":\"California, other states sue over new Trump limits on loans for nurses, PAs, therapists - California Relocation Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aea659d9a0267a48921ca4149d587def-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T22:00:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/?p=755#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aea659d9a0267a48921ca4149d587def-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/california-relocation-journal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/aea659d9a0267a48921ca4149d587def-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1708,\"caption\":\"San Diego, CA. 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