Graduate programs face a tightened financing landscape as new Education Department rules cap borrowing for many master's and doctoral students. Institutions are scrambling to advise students, reshape financial-aid packaging, and redesign program costs. Separately, lawmakers urged the Education Department to add nursing to the administration’s list of 'professional' programs that would qualify for larger loan limits, arguing omission jeopardizes healthcare workforce pathways. Universities and graduate schools are evaluating alternatives — institutional loans, expanded scholarships, employer-sponsored tuition and program restructuring — to preserve enrollments. Nursing lobbyists and bipartisan members of Congress pressed ED to revise the professional designation; the agency’s decision will determine borrowing ceilings and affect graduate enrollment choices in high-need fields. Provosts, admissions leaders and financial-aid directors must model fiscal scenarios under the caps, prioritize programs for institutional subsidies, and accelerate employer partnerships to prevent enrollment declines in critical professional and clinical fields.