cpsylist: FW: Major Win for Psychology Education & Training Programs & Students

Fri Nov 14 11:56:50 PST 2025

I've been watching this unfold with so much stres...I'm so thankful to the APA advocacy efforts.

  *
Karrie

Karrie P Walters, PhD
Licensed Psychologist
Clinic Director, Comprehensive Diagnostic Assessment Clinic (CDAC)
Career Faculty, Counseling Psychology and Human Service Faculty, Career Instructor II
University of Oregon and HEDCO Clinic

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From: cpsylist-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <cpsylist-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> on behalf of Anne Marie Mauricio <amariem at uoregon.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2025 10:29 AM
To: Jessica Cronce <jcronce at uoregon.edu>; cpsylist at lists.uoregon.edu <cpsylist at lists.uoregon.edu>
Subject: Re: cpsylist: FW: Major Win for Psychology Education & Training Programs & Students

Hi Jess, thank you so much for sharing. This is a great win!

Anne Marie

Anne Marie Mauricio, Ph.D.

Director of Clinical Training, Counseling Psychology

Associate Research Professor, Prevention Science Institute

University of Oregon

Eugene, OR 97403

http://psi.uoregon.edu<http://psi.uoregon.edu/>

https://hedcoclinic.uoregon.edu/center/child-and-family-center

Pronouns: she / her / hers

I support all students regardless of immigration status or country of origin. As a Dreamer Ally, I support Dreamer students and promote their sense of belonging and safety as they pursue their higher education goals. I commit to not sharing your status with anyone if you reveal it to me, but I also remind you that when interacting with faculty, staff, and offices around campus you are never required to reveal your immigration status. For more information and resources, please visit the UO Dreamers page (https://www.uoregon.edu/dreamers) page.

From: cpsylist-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu <cpsylist-bounces at lists.uoregon.edu> On Behalf Of Jessica Cronce
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2025 12:28 PM
To: cpsylist at lists.uoregon.edu
Subject: cpsylist: FW: Major Win for Psychology Education & Training Programs & Students

Dear Members of the CPSY Community,

I’m writing to bring your attention to a recent message from APA’s Grassroots Engagement, Advocacy Office. The OBBBA cap that goes into effect for new graduate student borrowers in “non-professional” programs in/after July 2026 -- $20,500/year ($100,000 aggregate) -- would not have fully covered the cost of tuition (let alone other costs associated with attendance) for students in our program or most other health service psychology programs nationwide.

APA’s advocacy has resulted in health service psychology programs being added as part of the definition of “professional degree” for the purposes of the newly established federal student loan limits, meaning students in clinical, counseling, and school psychology PhD programs will be eligible to borrow up to $50,000/year ($200,000 aggregate).

Although continued advocacy and effort will be needed to ensure our program remains a financially viable option for applicants (and current students), particularly those who have fewer financial resources, this is an important “win.”

Best,

Jess

Jessica M. Cronce, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services

Director, Counseling Psychology Program

Director, Counseling Psychology Center in the HEDCO Clinic

College of Education

-------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Parfaite-Claude, Doris <DParfaite-Claude at apa.org<mailto:DParfaite-Claude at apa.org>>
Date: Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 3:48 PM

Major win for psychology education and training programs and students

After many months of advocacy by APA Services, both throughout the legislative and regulatory processes, the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking committee took its final consensus check on November 6 and approved a package of regulations to implement portions of the higher education provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which now includes health service psychology programs as part of the definition of ‘professional degree’ for the purposes of the newly established federal student loan limits.

This will allow doctoral psychology students in health service psychology programs to borrow federal loans at the highest-level set in law ($50,000 annually, $200,000 lifetime; exclusive of undergraduate loans). The regulatory text now explicitly includes Clinical Psychology (PhD and PsyD), as well as all other programs within the same 4-digit CIP Code (42.28) as Clinical Psychology, so long as they are also doctoral programs and lead to licensure. Meaning that this would also cover Counseling Psychology and School Psychology.

As a reminder, these changes will affect new borrowers. In addition to the above, the Department also clarified that all current borrowers will be grandfathered in as part of the legacy student loan programs (both Grad PLUS and the bump-up in current loan limits for health professions degrees, including clinical psychology) for the lesser of three academic years or the remaining length of their current program.

In the weeks leading up to this consensus vote, APA Services engaged a multi-pronged advocacy strategy: working hand-in-hand with key negotiators on the committee, leading a bipartisan letter from key House members, engaging with SPTAs to ask key Senators to weigh in on our behalf, and meeting with Department staff to share data and provide important clarifications.

As far as next steps, the Department will now draft a proposed rule that they are aiming to issue for public comment before the end of the year. Because consensus was reached, the Department is legally bound to include that language in the proposed rule, which means that this agreed upon definition for ‘professional degree’ must be in the text. A final rule is likely to be published by next spring, with a July 1, 2026 implementation date. For more information on this issue, please contact Kenneth Polishchuk<mailto:kpolishchuk at apa.org>, Deputy Chief for Education and Training Policy.

Doris Parfaite-Claude, MPP (she, her, hers)

Director, Grassroots Engagement, Advocacy Office

American Psychological Association

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