The United States Department of Education has removed several widely pursued degrees from its list of “professional programmes”. These degrees include nursing, accounting and architecture.

This move could significantly affect federal student loan eligibility for many applicants.

The change comes as part of the Trump administration’s broader overhaul of higher education regulations under what it has termed the “One Big Beautiful Bill”.

According to the revised classifications, degrees in nursing, accounting, physical therapy, audiology, architecture, social work, education, and physician assistant studies will no longer be considered professional programmes, Times Now reports.

Under the revised strategy, the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) will take the role of the previous loan schemes.

This includes the termination of Grad PLUS loans and the implementation of new borrowing caps: USD 20,500 per year for graduate students and USD 50,000 for those enrolled in "professional" programs.

As a result, the notion of a professional degree now has significant implications for student loan eligibility.

Only a narrow group of programmes continue to qualify as professional degrees, such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, optometry, veterinary science, podiatry, osteopathic medicine, law, theology, chiropractic studies and clinical psychology.

Associations representing nursing and social work students have warned that the reclassification may deter prospective applicants at a time when the US faces chronic shortages in public-facing professions.

The Department of Education has justified the new rules by saying the professional designation should apply only to degrees that require intensive postgraduate training leading to licensure comparable to medical or legal fields.