New education loan limits favor RFK Jr.’s enemies

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made it his Make America Healthy Again mission to challenge the medical establishment. President Donald Trump’s signature law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, could entrench it.

Kennedy sees America’s medical schools as bastions of groupthink that ignore the root causes of disease. But newly proposed caps on student loans that stem from the law would favor establishment institutions over nontraditional schools aligned with Kennedy’s view that Americans are sicker than ever because of what they eat, the chemicals they’re exposed to, and how little exercise they get.

The contrarians, including nontraditional schools that train naturopathic physicians and herbalists, are making a last ditch pitch to keep the federal funds flowing. But they are finding Kennedy’s desire to punch holes in the medical establishment is running up against the Education Department, which must find cost savings to pay for tax cuts under the Republican law. The department says unlimited loans enable schools to raise tuition and saddle students with debts they can’t pay back.

The affected schools argue students won’t be able to attend under the proposed loan caps. “Naturopathic medicine, at a time when we should be shining, is potentially fighting for our existence,” said JoAnn Yánez, executive director of the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges.

Yánez’s members train NDs who, in contrast to MDs, lean toward diet advice, herbal treatments and stress management over surgeries and scripts — just like Kennedy does. Like medical doctors, naturopathic doctors must complete a four-year program and on-the-job training. Almost half of states license naturopathic doctors, with some allowing them to serve as primary care physicians. A few explicitly prohibit them from practicing medicine.

Yánez’s association hired Washington’s Vogel Group to lobby Congress and Education on the loan rules in December. That same month, she co-signed a letter with the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians to Kennedy urging him to advocate on behalf of naturopathic physicians. “As HHS continues its work to strengthen the nation’s health care system, it is essential that federal policy recognizes and supports health care professions that are aligned with prevention-focused, nutrition-centered strategies,” they wrote.

HHS did not respond to requests for comment.

Naturopathy isn’t the only field that is worried about training new specialists since the law said the government would no longer offer loans equal to the full cost of an advanced degree, including living expenses.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act capped student loans at $100,000 for “graduate” degrees and $200,000 for “professional” degree students starting in July. Naturopaths, nutritionists, acupuncturists, physical therapists, and mental health counselors all fall under graduate degrees. Future MDs, theologians, and pharmacists, meanwhile, will be able to borrow $200,000.

Some of the loudest Kennedy critics are eligible for the larger amount. Doctors’ groups led by the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Association have led the opposition to Kennedy’s push to downsize the children’s vaccine schedule, while dentists have condemned his effort to remove fluoride from drinking water.

“I don’t think the left hand is talking to the right,” said Ariel Gonzalez, a Vogel Group lobbyist. “This is a misalignment of goals within the administration when you have a DOE doing one thing which is harmful to the MAHA movement and HHS’ goals of addressing chronic disease through integrative medicine.”

Sonoran University of Health Sciences, an accredited university of naturopathic medicine, where students study Kennedy priorities like the dangers of chemicals and the benefits of healthy eating, has seen a 27 percent drop in prospective applicants for this fall compared to last. Average cost of attendance is more than $350,000 for a four-year naturopathic degree. Over 80 percent of students receive federal loans.

Naturopaths argue they and other practitioners of alternative medicine have long qualified as professionals under a 1994 federal rule cited in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But the Education Department does not see it that way.

The new loan limits come as Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement touts alternative and preventive approaches to health, and states introduce dozens of bills to promote natural remedies and healthier meals. At least a dozen states introduced bills to license naturopathy last year, and POLITICO tracked more than 130 state bills aimed at regulating ultraprocessed foods and improving nutrition.

“It's an exciting time where nutrition has become a real national dialogue, but at the same time, the resources to be able to do that and to effect the changes we want to see are being pulled out from underneath us,” said Kelly Horton, senior vice president of public policy and government relations at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which represents another group affected by the lower loan limits.

Kennedy has adopted the slogan “Eat Real Food” in recent weeks after releasing new dietary guidelines that discourage eating ultraprocessed food but promote fruits and vegetables as well as whole milk and red meat. He also endorsed a Super Bowl ad using the catchphrase and featuring the boxer Mike Tyson that his allies at the MAHA Center paid for.

Trade groups for those affected by the new loan limits have warned the changes will exacerbate workplace shortages and complicate the president’s effort to lower health care costs and create jobs. The U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in January, the highest in more than a year, with growth largely concentrated in health care, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Feb. 11.

A recent analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found one-third of masters students in health care borrowed above the new limits, with 17 percent of those students reporting subprime or no credit scores, making it difficult to access private loans. Meanwhile, among doctoral students, more than 60 percent of those in health fields exceeded borrowing limits, the highest share of any field.

"It's just going to make health care become more expensive, and it's going to make the cost of getting these degrees way more expensive overall,” said Abe Saffer, senior legislative representative at the American Occupational Therapy Association. Occupational therapists help people recover physical function after injury or disease.

Earlier this month, the AOTA launched the Alliance for Healthcare Access and Workforce Development, which includes more than 75 groups, including the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and the American Physical Therapy Association, to fight the rules.

Last year, the occupational therapists collaborated with Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-N.Y.), who worked as a therapist before getting into politics, on language in his proposed Loan Equity for Advanced Professionals Act. It would ensure graduate degree students receive the same higher limits for borrowing as professional degree students. New York Rep. Mike Lawler has introduced a similar bill with several fellow Republicans to expand the number of graduate programs that qualify as professional degrees and get the higher loan limit.

Lawler said he was concerned about therapists, social workers and nurses if the new loan limits take effect.

The omission of nurses from the list of professionals eligible for higher loan limits has drawn the most opposition in Congress. More than 140 senators and representatives, including both Republicans and Democrats, wrote to Education Undersecretary Nicholas Kent in December to urge the department to raise the loan limit for nurses.

Education has defended the proposal and said 95 percent of nursing students would not be affected by the new rules.

“Health in our country is something that we need to work very hard to improve. I think we're on a good trajectory,” said Thomas Kouo, president of the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine, which is pushing for its students to be included in the higher loan limits. “The issue becomes: Is this going to turn the tide? Are we going to head in the wrong direction because of something like this?”