On January 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee released their final rule on proposed regulatory language implementing federal student loan-related changes under the Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025. ED published the proposed regulations for public comment in the Federal Register on January 30, 2026 and will be open for comment until March 2, 2026.
The final rule defines the terms “professional student” and “graduate student” for purposes of determining federal student loan amounts based on the type of program in which a student is enrolled. Under the proposal, “professional students” would be those enrolled in one of 11 designated professional degree programs: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology and clinical psychology. Students enrolled in these programs would qualify for up to $50,000 in federal loans per year, with a $200,000 aggregate limit, while graduate students would be eligible for up to $20,500 in federal student loans per year, with a $100,000 aggregate limit. The rule excludes graduate programs in social work, public health, and several other essential health and human service fields. If finalized, these changes would take effect July 1.
TAKE ACTION NOW: Submit public comments before March 2, 2026
Social Work Leadership Round Table Statement:
Together, the organizations representing the Social Work Leadership Round Table urge the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to include social work in its proposed definition of professional degrees. This reclassification is not a matter of semantics. This decision is far more than a semantic distinction, it carries significant consequences for students, communities, and public systems nationwide. Across the United States, social workers are vital to child welfare, behavioral health, schools, healthcare, and community systems, sectors already facing critical workforce shortages. In fact, professional social workers make up the largest segment of the mental health workforce in the United States. Reclassifying social work as a non-professional degree would further strain these systems through limiting students’ access to the federal loans needed to pursue an education, weaken public systems and increase taxpayer costs.
If fewer students can afford to earn a Master of Social Work (MSW), workforce shortages will deepen. Agencies will face higher recruitment and turnover costs, reduced continuity of care, and increased reliance on costly contract labor. Shortages of clinicians providing therapy, crisis intervention, school-based services, substance use treatment, and community-based care will grow—resulting in longer wait times and diminished access to culturally responsive services, particularly in rural, low-income, and underserved communities. To strengthen, not weaken, the behavioral health workforce, ED must include social work in the final definition of professional degrees. Maintaining appropriate federal loan access for MSW students and expanding federal funding opportunities that make social work education attainable are essential to upholding a strong and effective workforce.
Equally important is strengthening pathways into social work education, including expanding access to federal grants, training programs, and loan repayment opportunities, is essential to ensuring an equitable and diverse workforce. Access to essential funding streams such as Pell Grants, the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) scholarship and loan repayment initiatives, and other federal supports, must be strengthened and expanded, not constrained.
Signed by the Members of the Social Work Leadership Round Table:
Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Programs (BPD)
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE)
Grand Challenges of Social Work
National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work (NADD)
National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW)
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
Social Work Collective to Advance Research (SCoAR)
TAKE ACTION NOW: Submit public comments before March 2, 2026