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Federal Advocacy

Federal Advocacy Information

US Department of Education Finalizes Rule

On Thursday, April 30,  the U.S. Department of Education finalized regulations that will put in place new caps on federal student loans for postbaccalaureate degrees.

The finalized rule maintains the department’s arbitrary and limited definition of a “professional degree” for the purposes of federal student loan limits put forth in its January 29, 2026 proposed rule.  The department has finalized its proposal to limit access to the highest amount of federal loans-$50,000 per year and $200,000 in total- to eleven educational degree programs the department has categorized as “professional” for the purposes of student loans: theology, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, and clinical psychology.

All other degree programs – including DPT degree programs – will be deemed “graduate degrees” with access for students limited to $20,500 per year or $100,000 in total.

The Department of Education’s definitions of a “professional degree” and ‘graduate degree” are internal definitions used by the department to distinguish among programs that qualify for higher loan limits. As noted by the department, it has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not, and is not a value judgment about the importance of programs.

Litigation against the Department of Education is expected to be filed in the near future by various groups challenging the final rule.

In addition, there are currently various APTA-supported bills in the U. S. Congress to address the impact of the rule: H.R. 6574 (Rep. Kennedy), H.R. 6677/S. 4039 (Rep. Torres/Sen. Alsobrooks), and H.R. 6718 (Rep. Lawler). These bills would ensure that professional degrees such as the DPT would be classified and/or would have access to the professional degree loan caps. In doing so, they would protect prospective students’ ability to pursue careers in physical therapy and other essential health care professions.  

Members can contact their members of Congress about these APTA-supported bills via the APTA Action Center HERE.

APTA CT FAL NEWS

Read APTA Federal Affairs Liaison Roland Perreault’s new blog, featuring APTA CT’s Federal Advocacy efforts and the resources APTA has available.

Click here

APTA Capitol Hill Day

May 4, 2026

On April 20th and 21st Roland Perreault (CT FAL), UConn DPT Students Abigail Ladyga and Fred Guadalupe and Maryclaire Capetta attended the APTA Capitol Hill Day. They met with staff from the offices of Rep. Larson, Rep. Courtney, Rep. Hayes, Sen. Murphy and Sen. Blumenthal. The APTA CT delegation was among more than 200 physical therapy advocates from across the country as part of APTA’s event.

The team shared our struggles with Medicare payment cuts and asked for an inflationary update to the Physician Fee Schedule. The argument was made that we had to counteract the impacts of the changes to federal student loans for professional healthcare degree programs like the DPT. Another issue addressed was regarding the need to add PTs to the National Health Service Corps and add PTs to Community Health Centers.

Action Alert: Please write your legislators via this link about the impacts to the PT workforce anticipated with the change in federal student loan availability.