PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY — Benjamin Pinckney, a 46-year-old Army Reserve medic and former New York City sanitation worker, graduated from Lehman College in May 2026 with a Bachelor of Science degree and departmental honors. Pinckney, who moved to Prince George's County, Maryland, is pursuing a career as a physician assistant as new federal loan limits for graduate students take effect.

President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law in 2025, establishing borrowing caps for graduate students starting July 1, 2026. The Trump administration stated the loan caps are intended to curb the cost of higher education and student loan debt. Under the law, students defined as pursuing a "professional degree," including trainee doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and chiropractors, may borrow up to $50,000 annually and $200,000 total. Students pursuing other "graduate" degrees face an annual limit of $20,500 and a total cap of $100,000.

Students pursuing physical therapy, physician assistant, and nursing degrees were initially grouped with the lower borrowing limits. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Department of Education from enforcing the "professional degree" definition on June 24, 2026. On June 29, 2026, the department issued guidance stating some physician assistant, physical therapy, and nursing students will temporarily be allowed to borrow up to the higher limit. Current interest rates for federal loans for graduate students are approximately 8% to 9%.

The American Academy of Physician Associates and the PA Education Association filed a federal lawsuit in June 2026, alleging the new rules deny students the loan amounts needed to attend physician assistant schools. The groups argue that physician assistant students should have access to the higher loan limits available to students in medical school and other professional degree programs. "It'd be like if you had a hangnail and I cut your whole arm off instead of just taking care of the hangnail," said Todd Pickard, president of the American Academy of Physician Associates. "The treatment doesn't match the problem."

In May 2026, 25 states and the District of Columbia filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Education over the new loan rules. Their complaint described the law's "professional degree" definition as "arbitrary and capricious." According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the median cost of attending a public medical school is nearly $300,000 over four years, while a private medical school education exceeds $400,000.

Pinckney has wanted to become a physician assistant since he was 20 years old. His resolve strengthened after he was hospitalized with two gunshot wounds from a drive-by shooting in Jacksonville, Florida. During his weeklong hospitalization, a physician assistant visited him daily. "I used to run the streets, you know, on the wrong sides of the track," Pinckney said. "He made me promise that I would never come into his ER that way again. That was the last conversation we had, right before I was discharged." Pinckney estimates he paid at least 90% of his undergraduate tuition out-of-pocket and finished with about $10,000 in federal student loan debt.