Many individuals have expressed anger after the Department of Education decided to exclude a widely respected college program from being classified as a ‘professional degree’.
In accordance with President Donald Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’, students pursuing ‘professional degrees’ are eligible for student loans up to $200,000, whereas those not considered ‘professional’ have a cap of $100,000 for their education.
Nursing has been notably left out from the list of ‘professional degrees’, a decision that has sparked concern and outrage among groups that argue this exclusion could negatively impact patient care.
The United States currently has over 260,000 students enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs and 42,000 in Associate Degree in Nursing programs. There is growing worry that this decision might lead to a decrease in the nursing workforce across the nation.
“Nursing is the backbone of the healthcare structure in the United States,” Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nursing Association, shared with NewsNation.
“We are short tens of thousands of nurses and advanced practice nurses already. This is going to stop nurses from going to school to be teachers for other nurses.”
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing also released a statement expressing: “Excluding nursing from the definition of professional degree programs disregards decades of progress toward parity across the health professions and contradicts the Department’s own acknowledgment that professional programs are those leading to licensure and direct practice.
“Should this proposal be finalized, the impact on our already-challenged nursing workforce would be devastating.”
The classification of nursing as a professional degree remains uncertain, yet its exclusion now influences decisions regarding student loans, marking a significant shift.
Ellen Keast, the Department of Education’s press secretary for higher education, told Newsweek: “The Department has had a consistent definition of what constitutes a professional degree for decades and the consensus-based language aligns with this historical precedent.
“The committee, which included institutions of higher education, agreed on the definition that we will put forward in a proposed rule.
“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.”
The department has recognized several fields as ‘professional’, including medicine, pharmacy, law, dentistry, osteopathic medicine, optometry, podiatry, chiropractic, veterinary medicine, theology, and clinical psychology.
In contrast, fields such as physician assistants, physical therapists, educators, social workers, audiologists, architects, and accountants are not classified as ‘professional’.
UNILAD has reached out to the Department of Education for further comments.