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Unintended Consequence for Women Pursuing Advanced Education

Posted on Dec 12, 2025

 At the Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region, our mission goes beyond funding programs—it’s about creating a community where women and girls can thrive. We know that the challenges they face are often complex and deeply personal, yet they are shaped by policies, systems, and cultural norms that affect us all.

Through our Empowerment Edition, we aim to shine a light on issues that matter—because awareness is the first step toward change. These conversations help our community understand how decisions made at every level can impact opportunities for women and girls, and why equity is essential for a stronger future.

The recent conversation around the definition of what is a “professional degree” has focused on what it will mean for students. What has been missing from those conversations is its impact on women. 

The current discussion relates to proposed changes to student loan caps. The current caps go back to the 1965 federal law that defines a professional degree and lists 10 degrees considered professional and indicates the list is not exhaustive.

The proposed law for student loan caps specifically lists the ten degrees included in the original law as professional degrees, thus leaving out a large number of degrees, many with a high percentage of women enrolled.

While graduate students could previously borrow loans up to the cost of their degree, the new rules would set caps depending on whether the degree is considered a graduate or professional program, impacting how much a student is able to borrow.

The New Rules: A Two-Tiered System

Effective July 2026, the legislation creates a two-tiered system for graduate students and professional students based on their degrees:

• Students in graduate programs listed as professional degree are considered Professional Students and can borrow up to $50,000 annually with a $200,000 overall cap.
• Students in graduate programs not listed as profession degree are considered Graduate Students with loans capped at $20,500 per year and $100,000 total.

Programs Affected and Impact on Women

The classification and reduced loan limits impact degrees in fields where women are a significant part of the workforce.

Some of the fields affected include:

• Nursing: 89% women (1)
• Social Work: 90% women (2)
• Education: 77% women (3)
• Physician Assistants: 71% women (4)
• Physical Therapists: 70% women (5)
• Accountants: 60% women (6)
• Audiologists: 85–90% women (7)

While many of the degrees listed as professional degrees, such as law, theology and chiropractic, are those with a high percentage of male students and will have access to the higher loan limits.

Potential Consequences

Limiting access to federal aid for students in these fields deemed not professional, could undermine critical sectors of our economy like healthcare, education and social services, where women make up the majority of the workforce.

According to a report by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), women currently hold nearly two-thirds of the nation’s student debt. Due to the persistent gender pay gap, women already take longer to repay their student loans and pay more interest over time, making it harder to achieve financial milestones like saving for retirement or buying a home thus limiting their ability to achieve financial stability.

When women run into barriers that directly impact their educational funding,  opportunities to create the future they dreamed become more difficult or even impossible.  

At the Women’s Fund for the Fox Valley Region, we know that education is a pathway to economic security and financial stability, the Women’s Fund support programs and initiatives to empower women to pursue and achieve their post-secondary educational goals. 

REFERENCES

1. Smiley, R.A., Allgeyer, R.L., Shobo, Y., Lyons, K.C., Letourneau, R., Zhong, E., Kaminski-Ozturk, N., & Alexander, M. (April 2023). The 2022 National Nursing Workforce Survey. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 14(1), Supplement (S1-S90).
2. National Association of Social Workers. (2020, December 11). New report provides insights into new social workers’ demographics, income, and job satisfaction. NASW, National Association of Social Workers.
3. Schaeffer, K. (2024, September 24). Key facts about public school teachers in the U.S. Pew Research Center.
4. Editor, A. (2025, October 15). Report documents women’s representation in physician assistant specialties. Women In Academia Report.
5. American Physical Therapy Association. (n.d.). A physical therapy profile: Demographics of the profession, 2021-2022.
6. Arona, K. (2025, September 19). A brief history of women in accounting. Western Mass Accounting Firm.
7. The ASHA Leader. (2019, August). The asha leader: News for and about audiologists, speech-language … A Demographic Snapshot of Audiologists.

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