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Student Loan Access and Forgiveness

Legislative Challenges Threaten the Future of Social Work Practice

By Heather Rose Artushin, MSW, LISW-CP

foot on gas pedal made out of a book being help up by a student

Multiple changes to student loans and student loan debt relief are being pushed by the Trump Administration’s Department of Education (DOE), potentially creating barriers to access social work education and exacerbating the existing mental health care provider shortage.

Federal Student Loan Limits

The DOE is limiting the types of degrees that are considered “professional” for the purposes of loan limits.

Through the process of negotiated rulemaking, the DOE aims to make regulatory changes for the programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. Through this process, the new rules intend to redefine the degrees that are considered “professional” versus “graduate” degrees, impacting student loan limits.

Whereas social work was once classified as a professional degree, it has been recategorized as a graduate degree. Any graduate degrees, including social work, will have lower student loan limits. Updates regarding this process can be found on the U.S. Department of Education’s website at ed.gov/laws-and-policy/higher-education-laws-and-policy/higher-education-policy/negotiated-rulemaking-for-higher-education-2025-2026.

“We’re concerned that social work students won’t be able to take out the full amount that they need for their education,” expressed Dina Kastner, MSS, MLSP, Public Policy and Advocacy Manager for NASW. “It’s particularly going to be problematic for people deciding to do a dual degree, as it’s a lifetime limit in addition to an annual limit.”

The proposed rule was implemented on May 1 and will take effect July 1, 2026. (See related news article on p. 6.) Students in need of loans after this date may not have enough federal aid to complete their degree, and will have to rely on private loans to fund their education. Private loans are issued by banks, credit unions, and other lenders, and generally require a strong credit history, proof of income, or a cosigner, which may be a barrier for many students from low-income backgrounds. Private loans tend to have higher interest rates than federal student loans, and missed payments can negatively affect both the student and cosigner’s credit rates. “Private loans are not protected in the same ways as federal aid,” Kastner explained. “They do not qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and other programs that help social workers pay back their loans, including Income-Based Repayment (IBR) options.”

While other disciplines are facing changes to student loan limits due to this reclassification, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, and nursing, the imposition of lower federal loan limits stands to uniquely impact the field of social work. Data from national workforce surveys and the Bureau of Labor Statistics consistently show that social workers earn significantly less than other mental health professionals, including psychologists and nurses. Social workers deliver over 60% of mental health treatment in the United States, yet median wages are lower than in comparable disciplines.

Contributing factors to this persistent wage gap might include the predominance of women and people of color in social work, high student loan debt burdens, and high rates of burnout and turnover. Social workers deserve to be compensated in a way that reflects the high value of work they contribute to society, yet this disparity points to a systemic issue involving economic and social justice concerns.

“Social workers in general start out with lower salaries than most other masters-prepared professions, so I think it’s going to be particularly difficult for social workers because of the types of salaries they can bring in at the beginning of their career,” Kastner said. “Many are able to move up, but directly out of graduate school it’s often difficult to make enough money to pay back those loans without IBR or PSLF.”

While the language used in the DOE designation is for categorization purposes, and is not necessarily intended as a direct attack on the professionalism of the social work field, many social workers have felt disrespected or devalued by the words used in this legislation. “Words matter to this administration,” said Matt Hooper, vice president of communications and membership for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). “When we start trading words like ‘professional’ for words that seem a step down, I think we need to take that seriously. I’ve talked to faculty who have said that students have come up to them concerned by this nomenclature, and that people in positions of power don’t necessarily see the profession as being as vital as it is. The DOE has responded to that and has said that the definition of a professional degree versus a graduate degree is an inside term to delineate one thing from another, but I think words matter and to designate social work and social work education as anything less than professional is problematic.”

Kastner agrees—“One thing to remember is that this designation by the DOE doesn’t mean that social work isn’t a profession. This is just related to student loan limits. But I think people are feeling it as if they’re being told they’re not part of a profession anymore and that’s heartbreaking because our profession has been around for over 100 years and we’ve worked hard to make sure it is one that has a code of ethics, credentialing programs, licensure, an advanced degree—having it seem like it’s not considered a profession is really challenging for social workers who have built their careers working in their communities and helping individuals families and communities thrive.”

We want to make sure that the access people have to a social work education, and by proxy to a social work career, remains the same, if not expanded greatly, in the future.”—Matt Hooper, Vice President of Communications and Membership for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)

Future Impacts

This legislation could further exacerbate the mental health provider shortage in our country, leading to a decline in the social work professional workforce. “We want to make sure that the access people have to a social work education, and by proxy to a social work career, remains the same, if not expanded greatly, in the future,” Hooper said. “What we are concerned about is if students do not have the same borrowing options or the most affordable borrowing options in order to afford a social work degree, it might lead to downstream impacts that would be bad for the country. Fewer people will choose to pursue a social work degree, despite the fact that well over half of behavioral health services in this country are provided by social workers and we’re already facing a shortage. The last thing we need to be doing is putting road blocks between students and social work degrees.”

Social workers provide vital services to diverse communities across the country, serving in a wide range of settings and sectors. “Social work is not partisan,” added Hooper. “Social work is really necessary for this country to function day-to-day—if making America healthy again is the goal, that’s going to require social workers.” Not only could these borrowing limits impact the field of social work, but it could devastate the communities that social workers serve. “When you don’t have enough health care providers or behavioral health providers, people suffer as a result,” he said. “Communities where people rely upon social workers to provide critical services and support include particularly vulnerable population—children, the elderly, people facing substance use issues, mental health concerns. In terms of the free market, the more scarce something is, the more expensive it becomes. With fewer health care resources they would become more expensive, maybe prohibitively so. It’s critical for us to be having these conversations among partner organizations, not just in the social work field, but in other health care-adjacent fields.”

The country’s most vulnerable populations are at increased risk of being negatively impacted by this legislation for generations to come, removing access to important services that social workers and adjacent health care providers offer, particularly in underserved communities.

“The DOE’s policy to decrease limits on graduate student loans for social workers, who are an integral part of the health care provider team, will prohibit a generation from providing health care services to Latino patients and all underserved Americans,” said Elena Rios, MD, MSPH, MACP, president of the National Hispanic Health Foundation.

NASW is alarmed by DOE’s legislative action and is working hard to reverse it. The association has partnered with organizations across multiple health care fields that have been impacted by the changes to federal student loan limits. Kastner represented NASW at a press conference on Dec. 17, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol, where the Loan Equity for Advanced Professionals (LEAP) Act was introduced by U.S. Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-N.Y. Reps. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., Jill Tokuda D-Hawaii, Debbie Dingell D-Mich, and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich, also were present at the event and spoke in support of the LEAP Act. “Kennedy’s bill would make it so that it wouldn’t matter if you’re classified as a professional or graduate degree—you would receive the same loan limits,” explained Kastner.

Kennedy, an occupational therapist (a profession on the DOE list with social workers), is committed to passing the LEAP Act as one of his top priorities in Congress.

There’s safety in numbers, particularly when it comes to advocacy.”—Matt Hooper

“The Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill established arbitrary federal loan caps, limiting borrowing power for advanced degrees in social work, taking aim at an already strained workforce,” he said. “The LEAP Act restores fairness by creating parity between ‘graduate’ and ‘professional’ loan limits, ensuring that program cost is never a barrier to pursuing a career in social work. At a time when we should be encouraging entrance into mental health professions, we must advance this legislative fix to provide a pathway to a steady career, meet community needs, and help our most vulnerable populations.”

The collaboration between the NASW, CSWE, and organizations like the American Occupational Therapy Association, National Hispanic Health Foundation, American Physical Therapy Association, American Federation of Teachers, and others have forged a unique interdisciplinary bond that has proven to be an asset in amplifying our voices against unjust federal student loan limits.

“Sometimes it takes a little bit of stress to help you reframe your own place within the grand structure of how things get done within the United States. We can become a little siloed within our own organizations and don’t necessarily think in terms of coming together and advocating on behalf of one another,” Hooper pointed out. “There’s safety in numbers, particularly when it comes to advocacy. I think that there’s a benefit now and in the future for us to continue working together, supporting one another, looking for pathways to engage with one another, and telling the story of what the professionals, students, and educators do within those professional ecosystems and how they contribute to the common good.”

“Reach out to your members of Congress and ask them to sign on to the LEAP Act as a co-sponsor," Kastner said. “You can also attend town hall meetings regarding the need for the legislation, and can talk to your co-workers, family members, and friends and get them involved."

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

In addition to limiting federal loans for social work students, the current administration is barring organizations from participating in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program if they support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), LGBTQ+ people and issues, sanctuary cities, and more. Contracts and grant funding have been revoked from organizations where many social workers serve, preventing them from participating in the PSLF program, which many have counted on as a pathway to loan forgiveness.

“People are going to have to make different decisions about where they work depending on which employers are eligible for PSLF,” said Kastner. “Some people I know have gone into social work because of the promise of PSLF, so this will likely turn away some from pursuing a higher degree and limit their ability to serve the types of communities they want to serve.” NASW is part of a lawsuit on this issue, working alongside Democracy Forward and Protect Borrowers, the litigators on the case. NASW is one of the named plaintiffs along with the National Council of Nonprofits.

These new restrictions to the PSLF program could further discourage students from pursuing a career in social work, and stands to leave many professionals currently working in the field with significantly less support in paying off their student loans. According to CSWE, more than 75% of master’s graduates have loan debt. In 2020, the average loan debt amount for master’s level graduates was $47,965, compared to $32,198 in 2010, yet the median social worker’s salary is only $58,380. Meanwhile, the need for mental health services continues to rise, with as many as 122 million Americans living in areas with a shortage of mental health providers. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) estimates that by 2037, there will be a shortage of more than 400,000 behavioral health professionals.

The Mental Health Professionals Workforce Shortage Loan Repayment Act, included in NASW’s Blueprint of Public Policy Priorities for the 119^th Congress 2025-26, would help address this workforce shortage by expanding the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program. Specifically, the bill would repay up to $250,000 in eligible student loan repayment for mental health professionals who work in mental health professional shortage areas, and repay one-sixth of the individual’s eligible loans for each year of service provided by such a mental health professional.

While federal loans are an important resource for social workers and many other disciplines seeking higher education, the need for more diverse funding opportunities is worth noting. Increasing access to scholarships, grants, and other creative funding avenues can help address the issue of education affordability. “We can’t talk about borrowing and student loans without acknowledging that there need to be additional supplementary forms of funding for students,” said Hooper. “Pell grants, funding for CSWE special programs we have, ensuring access to grants—opportunities for students to be able to secure funding outside of student loans is also important for us.”

While the field of social work is facing significant challenges as a result of these recent legislative changes, social workers can rest in the knowledge that NASW, CSWE, and other organizations are working hard on their behalf to keep education accessible, and loan repayment possible.

“We’re social workers—we live in hope,” said Hooper. “CSWE stands with you in affirming that social work is a vital profession. The country would not be what it is were it not for social workers doing what they do every day. We’re working as hard as we can and exploring every avenue to advocate on behalf of the profession, and specifically social work education. We want to ensure there will be more social workers in the future, that the pipeline is healthy and ever expanding. At the end of the day, the value that social work brings to the community has not been diminished.”

person holding up a book with a foot on top

Social workers are uniquely equipped to advocate on behalf of the profession’s future, giving voice to the many ways we impact our clients, communities, and country every day. Contacting your local and state representatives regarding these legislative challenges, and the vitality of your work as a social worker, can play an important role in securing the future of the profession for generations to come.

“It’s important for social workers to know that there are opportunities to engage and push for what they feel is just and would help social workers in maintaining their ability to get an education,” Kastner urged. “NASW is working hard on behalf of social workers—there is hope that we can effect change.”

Heather Rose Artushin, MSW, LISW-CP, is on a mission to make a difference, one word at a time. Learn more at heatherrosewriter.com.