Day: November 28, 2025

• Trump’s student-loan repayment overhaul includes new borrowing caps for graduate and professional students.
• It also reclassifies which programs are considered “professional” and eligible for a higher loan cap.
• Advocates expressed concerns that the changes could strain those in healthcare professions.

This year, there’s a new topic to argue about at the Thanksgiving table: What is a professional degree?

It’s a question that President Donald Trump’s Department of Education recently addressed in its overhaul of student-loan repayment. That’s led to criticism from groups that are not included in the department’s narrower degree definition.

The crux of the issue is new borrowing limits. Trump’s “big beautiful” spending legislation that he signed into law in July included new borrowing caps on professional and graduate student loans, aiming to curb excessive borrowing: $20,500 a year for graduate students or $100,000 over a lifetime, and $50,000 a year for professional students or $200,000 over a lifetime.

In addition to the caps, the department also reclassified what constitutes a professional degree, narrowing it down to 10 programs, including dentistry, medicine, and law.

Some advocates said the department’s professional degree definition could strain student-loan borrowing access to those in the healthcare profession seeking post-graduate training, like nurses, although the changes won’t affect undergraduate borrowing.

“At a time when healthcare in our country faces a historic nurse shortage and rising demands, limiting nurses’ access to funding for graduate education threatens the very foundation of patient care,” Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, said in a statement.

The Department of Education said that the new definitions only reflect which programs qualify for higher loan limits and are “not a value judgement about the importance of programs. It has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not.”

Student-loan changes to professional degree programs

The Department of Education said 10 post-graduate programs will be counted as professional degrees and will be eligible for the higher student-loan cap: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, and theology.

Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at the conservative think-tank the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in a Monday blog post that Congress “legislated only broad guidelines as to how graduate programs should be classified,” and the distinction between professional and non-professional programs was left to the discretion of the Education Department.

When it comes to nursing programs, Cooper said that the “new caps will affect only a small number of programs charging exorbitant prices.”

The Department of Education said that, based on its data, 95% of nursing students borrow below the new student-loan cap. The average cost of a master’s degree in nursing in 2020 ranged from $15,030 to nearly $43,000, per the National Center for Education Statistics.

The borrowing caps could strain other professions and cause some students to either forgo their advanced degrees or turn to the riskier, private lending market. For example, the Association of American Medical Colleges found that the median cost for four years of public medical school was $286,454 for the class of 2024. For law school, the average total cost was just over $217,000. The $200,000 lifetime cap would be insufficient to cover those tuition amounts.

While negotiations on the changes have concluded, the public will have an opportunity to comment on the proposals early next year before the department moves toward final implementation. The department said that it “may make changes in response to public comments.”

• A VC investor said AI will create a handful of winners while overhyped startups may fail.
• Early-stage AI companies are commanding soaring valuations despite lacking clear product-market fit.
• VC in AI is overheated, he said, setting the stage for a harsh market correction.

The AI boom is only just beginning — and it may prove the most lucrative cycle in venture-capital history, even as it also leaves behind a wave of startups.

That’s according to Mel Williams, cofounder and partner at TrueBridge Capital Partners, a fund-of-funds manager with $8 billion under management that has backed firms such as Founders Fund, Thrive, and Sequoia.

While VCs pick startups, Williams’ job is to pick the VCs — giving him a rare, ecosystem-wide view of what’s coming.

His outlook: AI will create enormous value over the next decade, but a number of startups won’t make it out alive.

“We think we’re at the leading stages of an AI wave,” Williams said during an interview on Jack Altman’s “Uncapped” podcast released on Tuesday.

“We’re going to see a lot of carnage over the next 10 years. And we will see more value created over the next 10 years than we’ve seen in the venture industry,” he said.

A ‘frothy’ market — especially at the earliest stages

Williams described the early-stage AI environment as overheated.

Founders with the right résumés — often with experience at OpenAI or top labs — can raise massive rounds at lofty valuations with little proof their product works.

“At the earlier stages of the formation stages, where there’s less evidence of a product market fit, you do see founders with credibility, founders who could check a couple boxes raising large pools of capital at very high valuations,” he said.

Growth-stage deals, he added, look more reasonable, with valuations closer to public-market levels as investors focus more on real revenue.

AI will amplify the venture’s power-law dynamics

Williams believes AI is accelerating the power-law pattern that already defines venture capital: a tiny handful of companies drive nearly all the returns.

“The magnitude of the winners is even greater today than it has been in prior cycles,” he said. It “is going to be outsized in this market.”

He pointed to three forces intensifying that trend:

• AI software scales instantly, with near-zero marginal cost.
• Enterprises are aggressively adopting AI tools, with explicit budgets allocated for them.
• Consumers jump in immediately, as seen with ChatGPT’s explosive growth.

The result: companies that get product-market fit could become market leaders quickly, while those that miss may stumble.

Outside AI, the venture market looks surprisingly healthy — but the fallout will still be brutal

Williams said the frenzy is largely confined to the field of AI. Outside of this, valuations remain reasonable, and capital still moves around milestones and revenue, he said.

The broader venture market, in his view, looks attractive compared to the overheated AI landscape.

But AI now accounts for 50% to 60% of all venture activity, he said — and that imbalance is setting the stage for a harsh correction.

Even if non-AI categories stay rational, Williams believes the sheer amount of capital flooding into AI will create a long trail of “carnage” as companies miss product-market fit or fail to justify their sky-high valuations.

“We’re in the early stages of that. There’s evidence that it’s working,” he said, but he added, “at the same time, it feels like a very frothy investment environment.”

• Emirates is the latest airline to sign up for Elon Musk’s Starlink WiFi.
• 17 other carriers have also announced deals for the ultra-high-speed internet.
• It’s already available on some airlines — here’s the full list.

Elon Musk‘s Starlink has gained yet another airline customer as the ultra-high-speed WiFi service continues to gain popularity.

On the first day of this month’s Dubai Airshow, Emirates announced that Starlink will be available for free, starting November 23.

Business Insider previously tested Starlink on Qatar Airways‘ first flight with it last October. The connection speed peaked at 215 megabits per second, more than enough for a lag-free video call, and faster than many cable-based internet services.

Starlink functions thanks to a constellation of over 7,000 satellites, which allows internet connections in remote locations, such as flying over an ocean. The satellites are in low-earth orbit, which means faster internet speeds — but also disrupts astronomers.

Starlink isn’t the only game in town, however.

JetBlue has signed up for Amazon Leo, which functions similarly, but has only launched 150 satellites so far.

Another in-flight WiFi rival is Viasat, which is used by Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. It only has a handful of satellites in a geostationary orbit, which have a longer time delay.

While it has rivals, Starlink wants to cement its dominance. As Starlink grows in popularity, it could be that more carriers sign up to Starlink to keep up with competitors. All airlines with Starlink offer it free of charge, although some require passengers to sign up for their loyalty programs.

As of the Emirates announcement, here are all the airlines that have publicly announced plans to launch Starlink:

Aer Lingus

The Irish flag carrier is part of International Airlines Group, which announced its Starlink deal in early November. It’s set to roll out Starlink from early 2026, but plans are still being finalized across the conglomerate.

Air Baltic

Latvia’s airBaltic flies around Europe and the Middle East only using Airbus A220 jets. It was the first European airline to adopt Starlink, and hopes to complete installation on all its planes by the end of the year.

Air France

The French flag carrier announced its Starlink deal last September, available to Flying Blue loyalty members. Installation began across its fleet, including regional planes, this summer.

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand first said it was working with Starlink two years ago. It then rolled it out on two domestic aircraft in June, saying that it was “currently in the test phase.”

Alaska Airlines

After merging with Hawaiian Airlines — the first major carrier to offer Starlink — Alaska Airlines announced its deal in August. It says it will first be available next year and will be rolled out across the fleet by 2027.

British Airways

The UK flag carrier is also part of IAG. BA said it would start rolling out Starlink next year and that it would be available free of charge to all its passengers.

Emirates

Dubai’s airline is starting to roll out Starlink this month and plans to add it to all 232 in-service aircraft by mid-2027. It’s also set to operate the first double-decker Airbus A380 with the service.

FlyDubai

The Emirati budget airline also announced its Starlink deal during this month’s Dubai Airshow. It only operates Boeing 737s and plans to install Starlink on 100 of them from next year.

Iberia

The Spanish flag carrier is also part of IAG. The conglomerate said it would roll out Starlink across its fleets from 2026.

JSX

JSX is a charter airline and was the first carrier to equip Starlink back in 2023. Its fleet is mostly made up of regional Embraer jets.

Level

Level is a budget airline based in Barcelona and is part of IAG. The airline’s parent company said it would roll out Starlink from 2026.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways outpaced its regional rival, Emirates, by announcing Starlink back in May 2024. As of November, it operates the most wide-body aircraft with the service, numbering over 100. Starlink is installed on all Qatar’s Boeing 777s and is being rolled out to its Airbus A350s.

SAS

Scandinavian Airlines, or SAS, is the flag carrier for Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. It announced Starlink in January and said the rollout would begin at the end of the year. Passengers would need to sign up for its EuroBonus loyalty program for free access.

United Airlines

United Airlines was the second US airline to announce a Starlink deal, but the first of the Big Three. It has installed the service on over half of its regional planes, and is continuing to roll it out across its whole fleet. The airline says customers will get a notification before their flight if it is equipped with Starlink. Passengers need to sign up for its MileagePlus loyalty program for free access.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic was the first UK airline to announce its deal with Starlink, which it did in July. Installation is planned to start in the second half of next year. Passengers will need to sign up for the airline’s Flying Club loyalty program to use it.

Vueling

Another IAG subsidiary, Vueling is a Spanish budget airline. Its parent company said it would roll out Starlink from 2026.

WestJet

Canada’s WestJet started installing Starlink in February, and it’s now equipped on over 100 of its Boeing 737 jets. It plans for all its 737-800 and 737 Max 8s to have Starlink by the end of the year. Free access requires signing up for its loyalty program.

Zipair

Zipair is a Japanese budget airline and a subsidiary of Japan Airlines. It was an early adopter of Starlink, announcing its deal in early 2023, but doesn’t appear to have yet launched the service.