Education Dept. removes nursing from professional degree list, threatens graduate funding
The Department of Education’s updated loan rules exclude nursing from professional classification, igniting backlash from healthcare advocates and academic leaders.
A regulatory change under President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is generating controversy in the healthcare and education sectors as the U.S. Department of Education redefines which academic programs qualify as “professional degrees.” The new list excludes nursing, cutting access to funding for thousands of students seeking advanced nursing credentials.
The change impacts students pursuing graduate-level nursing education, who will no longer qualify for the $200,000 aggregate borrowing limit reserved for professional degrees. Instead, they are now subject to the lower cap of $20,500 per year under the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). According to the American Nurses Association (ANA), over 260,000 students are currently enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs, with another 42,000 in Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) programs.
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Nursing’s omission stands in contrast to professions still classified as “professional,” which include medicine, law, clinical psychology, pharmacy, and theology. Left off the list are not only nurses, but also physician assistants, physical therapists, audiologists, and nurse practitioners.
The Department of Education maintains that its classification reflects longstanding regulatory precedent. “The committee, which included institutions of higher education, agreed on the definition that we will put forward in a proposed rule,” Ellen Keast, Department of Education press secretary, told Newsweek.
“We’re not surprised that some institutions are crying wolf over regulations that never existed because their unlimited tuition ride on the taxpayer dime is over.”
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Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, said nurses are the “backbone of our nation’s health system” in a response to the administration.
”We urge the Department of Education to recognize nursing as the essential profession it is,” she wrote, “and ensure access to loan programs that make advanced nursing education possible.”
