States sued the U.S. Department of Education over rules that define which graduate programs qualify as professional degrees, arguing the agency’s approach unlawfully limits federal borrowing. The litigation centers on nursing and other graduate healthcare fields in the wake of new loan caps that take effect July 1. State attorneys general and advocates say reclassifying these programs from professional degrees will reduce federal loan eligibility and may push students toward private borrowing or exit from critical workforce pipelines like nursing, physician assistant programs, and physical therapy. The controversy has immediate downstream effects for institutions’ tuition revenue, too, with plaintiffs pointing to program-level pricing examples at public colleges and warning that reduced federal aid could force tuition reductions or enrollment declines.