1. United States
2. Nev.
3. Letter

The Education Department's new graduate loan rules are discriminatory, and you need to push back before they take effect in July 2026. Under the Big Beautiful Bill's framework, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, teaching, speech pathology, and other education fields will be capped at $20,500/year in federal loans — while law and theology students get $50,000/year. These aren't arbitrary omissions. The excluded fields are overwhelmingly female-dominated: women made up about three-fourths of full-time health care workers according to 2019 Census data, and teaching and speech pathology skew even more heavily female. These are licensed, credentialed professions that require post-bachelor's degrees to practice. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing called the impact on the nursing workforce "devastating" — and we already have a nursing shortage. Teachers and speech pathologists face the same trap: expensive private loans, depressed public-sector salaries, and a system that tells them their work isn't worth funding. Pushing people out of these careers doesn't just hurt them. It puts patients, students, and communities at risk. Demand that the Education Department revise its definition to include all post-bachelor's degrees required for licensure — health care, education, and beyond. The rulemaking process is still open. Fix this now.