Democratic-led states sue to block student loan caps by Trump administration

While the Trump administration has argued that new restrictions on the size of federal student loans will lower tuition costs, public health officials and Democrats say the measures will exacerbate the country’s serious nursing shortage. As such, a group of 24 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia recently sued the federal government seeking to block the new rule, which is set to take effect on 1 July. If that happens, opponents say, it will not only fail to reduce tuition but also reduce the number of people who pursue careers in medicine, which will particularly hurt rural areas that already have difficulty finding health providers. “Capping federal loans without capping tuition is like putting less gas in the tank of a car and still wanting to go the same distance,” said Jennifer Zhang, a policy, research and data analyst at Protect Borrowers, a consumer advocacy group. The new parameters , which Congress approved as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will limit people pursuing graduate degrees termed “professional”, such as medicine, dentistry and law, to borrowing $50,000 per year, with a maximum of $200,000. Other graduate students, including those seeking to become nurses, physical therapists and nurse anesthetists, will be limited to $20,500 per year and a total of $100,000. The Trump administration claims that the restrictions will stop graduate schools from continually increasing tuition costs and make education more affordable. …