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Negotiators press Education Department to clarify 'professional student' list; mental‑health programs urged for inclusion
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Summary
Negotiators pushed the department to clarify the professional‑degree list and to confirm whether health‑profession loans (HEAL) and mental‑health licensure programs are covered by the new loan‑limit scheme; the department said the list is fixed for this rulemaking but may be addressed by future rulemaking and will confirm statutory authority.
Negotiators at the Department of Education pressed officials to clarify which programs qualify as "professional students" and whether health‑profession loan limits (often referred to historically as HEAL limits) fall under the same authority as other federal loan limits.
Tammy Abernathy, the department’s federal negotiator, told the room the department intends to mirror the existing regulatory reference (commonly cited as 668.2) and to retain a fixed list of programs for this negotiated rulemaking, while allowing "additional professional degrees" to be designated later by the secretary through a separate rulemaking. "At this point in time, we are saying this is the definition that we want," Tammy said, adding that the department will verify statutory intent with upper administration before finalizing its public position.
Multiple negotiators urged changes or further review. Andy Vaughn (proprietary institutions) argued the professional‑degree list largely omitted mental‑health licensure programs and warned that excluding those programs "is gonna decimate the pipeline of mental health professionals." He urged the department to reconsider the list, citing workforce shortages and VA hiring challenges.
Other negotiators asked for operational clarity in joint or dual degree contexts. The department proposed that a student enrolled in a program awarding both a graduate and a professional degree be treated as a "professional student" if more than 50 percent of the program’s credit hours count toward the professional degree; ED staff said they would explore higher thresholds such as 75 percent to minimize incentives to restructure programs to capture higher loan limits.
Tammy also acknowledged confusion around HEAL and health‑profession loans, noting that HEAL historically was under a different authority; ED said staff would confirm whether those health‑profession loan limits remain separate and would provide guidance, website language and a potential preamble explanation to ensure clarity for institutions and borrowers.
Committee members requested the department circulate the referenced Dear Colleague letter (identified in the meeting as GEN‑08‑04 / FP0804) and other source materials. Tammy said ED would share links and circulate corrected discussion drafts when necessary. The committee agreed to table further detailed work until staff could provide the clarifications and follow‑up documentation.
