If you’ve been following the Department of Education’s latest rulemaking, you may have heard about the plan to phase out Grad PLUS loans for all new graduate students. But what’s gotten far less attention is the selection of what counts as a “professional degree” to inform the new loan caps. And that decision could reshape who can afford to become a social worker in this country.
Under the proposal, only a narrow list of fields—medicine, dentistry, law, a few engineering specialties—would qualify as “professional.” Social work doesn’t make the cut. That single decision triggers a cascade of consequences: MSW students would be capped at $20,500 a year in federal loans and lose access to Grad PLUS entirely. As the report puts it, on average, “students have to have $18,000 cash on hand each year to afford an education that allows them to help others.”
For most MSW students, that’s simply impossible.
The typical cost of attendance for an MSW ranges from $30,000 to $80,000 a year (with notable exceptions for some public universities with reduced in-state tuition). Without Grad PLUS, students will often be forced into private loans—often at 9%, 13%, even 17% interest—with none of the protections that make federal loans manageable. No income‑driven repayment. No guaranteed forbearance. And for many, a required cosigner whose own financial stability is suddenly on the line. And, if you pass away, your cosigner can’t escape that debt with a death certificate.
The burden wouldn’t fall evenly. Low‑income students, first‑generation students, Black and Latino students, working parents, and career‑changers would be hit hardest. These are the very people who make the social work profession diverse, culturally grounded, and responsive to community needs. The proposed rule risks reversing decades of progress by making the MSW degree financially out of reach for the people who most need accessible pathways.
They argue: “a Bachelors in social work is all you need in most states.” Yet, that is not true; clinical social work licenses, and many healthcare social work positions, generally require a masters degree.
Based on reduced student loan funding availability, MSW programs—especially public and regional ones—could see enrollment drop sharply. Some may not survive. The workforce pipeline would shrink at the exact moment the country is facing rising behavioral‑health needs, housing instability, and crisis‑care demands. As the report warns, “the profession risks becoming less accessible and less representative,” weakening our ability to deliver high‑quality, community‑informed care.
This isn’t just a financial‑aid tweak. It’s a policy shift that could reshape the future of the social work workforce, deepen inequities, and push thousands of aspiring social workers into predatory private debt—or out of the field entirely.
The public comment window is short, but the stakes are enormous. If MSW programs are not recognized as the professional degrees they are, the path into social work will become narrower, more expensive, and far less equitable. And that’s a cost our communities simply cannot afford.
You can read more here in the full analysis carried out for the Coalition on Social Work and Health. Comments are due to the Department of Education by Monday March 2nd; one suggested comment template is downloadable here.