Professional Student Degree Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill amends the Direct Loan section of the Higher Education Act to define professional degree in statute. A qualifying degree must mark completion of the academic requirements to begin practice in a profession where licensure is commonly required and must show skill beyond a bachelor degree. The bill lists fields including pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology, clinical psychology, ministry, social work, audiology, physician assistant studies, occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, public health, business administration, accounting, architecture, education, and special education, while letting the Secretary of Education recognize other qualifying degrees.
Who Benefits and How
Students in the listed professional programs benefit from clearer federal student loan treatment if professional-degree status affects loan limits or program classification. Universities and professional schools gain more predictable statutory recognition for programs such as M.D., J.D., Pharm.D., M.S.W., D.P.T., M.B.A., M.Arch., M.Ed., and nursing degrees.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Education and federal student loan administrators must apply the new statutory list, evaluate other degrees against the licensure-oriented standard, and update loan-program guidance. Programs left outside the listed fields may need to seek a Secretary determination before receiving the same professional-degree treatment.
Key Provisions
- Adds a statutory definition of professional degree to the Higher Education Act Direct Loan provisions.
- Expands the recognized list to include specific health, law, ministry, social work, business, accounting, architecture, education, and special education degrees.
- Requires the Secretary of Education to determine whether other degrees meet the professional skill and licensure-oriented standard.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Create a statutory Higher Education Act definition of professional degree that lists medical, legal, health, ministry, social work, business, accounting, architecture, education, and other licensure-oriented programs for federal student loan purposes.
Key Policy Areas
Education, Student Loans, Healthcare Workforce
Primary Purpose
Create a statutory Higher Education Act definition of professional degree that lists medical, legal, health, ministry, social work, business, accounting, architecture, education, and other licensure-oriented programs for federal student loan purposes.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Professional degree students
- Universities offering professional programs
- Health profession schools
- Education schools
Identified Costs
- Department of Education
- Federal student loan administrators
- Programs seeking professional-degree recognition
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House
Mr. Lawler (for himself, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Bresnahan, and Mrs. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Professional degree students, Programs seeking professional-degree recognition, Universities offering professional programs
Department of Education student loan administrators
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "Beneficiaries"
- → ['Professional degree students', 'Universities', 'Health profession schools', 'Education schools']
- "Administrators"
- → ['Department of Education', 'Federal student loan administrators']
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology