Nursing groups are pushing back against changes by the Trump administration to federal loan eligibility rules that exclude nursing from the "professional degree" classification.
These changes will impact how graduate nursing students access federal loans and loan forgiveness programs, nursing organizations say, and these exclusions could threaten the pipeline of graduate-level nursing professionals who enter the healthcare workforce.
The changes to federal student loans are being implemented as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The new measures are scheduled to be implemented starting July 1, 2026.
The department is expected to release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the coming weeks.
Earlier this month, the Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) committee reached consensus on the entire package of federal student loan-related changes advanced by the OBBBA. The RISE Committee is a negotiated rulemaking committee that works with Department of Education to develop regulations for the student financial aid system.
Under Trump’s OBBBA, the department’s rulemaking will eliminate the Grad PLUS program, which the Trump administration says fueled "unsustainable student loan borrowing." The rulemaking also will cap Parent PLUS Loans, sunset the "confusing maze of student loan repayment plans created by the Obama and Biden Administrations," and create a new Repayment Assistance Plan.
In a "Myth vs. Fact" explainer on the Department of Education's website posted Monday, the agency said Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act "placed commonsense limits on federal student loans for graduate degrees."
"These loan limits will help drive down the cost of graduate programs and reduce the debt students have to take out. Graduate students received more than half of all new federal student loans originated in recent years, and graduate student loans now make up half of the outstanding $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio," the department said.
Under the OBBBA, the agency is required to identify “professional degree” programs that will be eligible for higher federal lending limits. The RISE negotiating committee convened by the agency proposed a consensus definition that designates medicine (M.D.), dentistry (D.D.S./D.M.D.), law (L.L.B./J.D.) and several other high-cost programs as eligible for the higher "professional student" borrowing limit.
Nurse practitioners, along with physician assistants and physical therapists, are not included in that list of 11 programs.
Beginning in July, the OBBBA caps annual loans for new borrowers at $20,500 for graduate students ($100,000 aggregate limit) and $50,000 for professional students ($200,000 aggregate limit). Only students pursuing a "professional" degree can borrow up to $50,000 annually.
The Department of Education stressed that the definition of a “professional degree” is an internal definition used by the department to distinguish among programs that qualify for higher loan limits, "not a value judgement about the importance of programs."
"It has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not," the department said.
The department has not published a proposed or final rule defining professional student yet. The agency may make changes in response to public comments, officials said.
"Because the negotiated rulemaking committee unanimously agreed to a proposed definition for 'professional student' for increased loan limits, among other things, the Department is required to publish the agreed upon language in its proposed rule," the agency said.
Nursing groups say the changes, if adopted as currently written, will cause graduate nursing students to lose access to higher federal loan limits previously available to professional degree programs. And, nursing students will be excluded from certain loan forgiveness programs reserved for professional degrees.
These groups are urging the Department of Education to explicitly include post-baccalaureate nursing programs in the regulatory definition of “professional degree programs.”
Earlier this month, the American Nurses Association (ANA) raised alarms about the proposal, noting that excluding nursing from professional degree classification "jeopardizes efforts to strengthen and expand the U.S. nursing workforce."
The changes to forthcoming federal loan eligibility rules will "severely restrict access to critical funding for graduate nursing education," the ANA, a group representing more than 5 million registered nurses, said.
“Nurses make up the largest segment of the healthcare workforce and the backbone of our nation’s health system,” said Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, Ph.D., president of the ANA, in a statement. “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. In many communities across the country, particularly in rural and underserved areas, advanced practice registered nurses ensure access to essential, high-quality care that would otherwise be unavailable. We urge the Department of Education to recognize nursing as the essential profession it is and ensure access to loan programs that make advanced nursing education possible.”
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) also pushed back on the proposal. "Despite broad recognition of the complexity, rigor, and necessity of post-baccalaureate nursing education, the Department’s proposal defines professional programs so narrowly that nursing, the nation’s largest healthcare profession, remains excluded. Should this proposal be finalized, the impact on our already-challenged nursing workforce would be devastating," the group said.
The AACN also said 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."
Nursing groups are urging the Department of Education to explicitly include post-baccalaureate nursing programs in the regulatory definition of “professional degree programs."
In its online post, the department refuted the idea that nurses will have a harder time securing federal student loans for their programs and said the change will not exacerbate the nationwide nursing shortage.
Agency data indicate that 95% of nursing students borrow below the annual loan limit and therefore are not affected by the new caps, the department said.
"Placing a cap on loans will push the remaining graduate nursing programs to reduce their program costs, ensuring that nurses will not be saddled with unmanageable student loan debt," the agency said.
Loan limits are exclusive to graduate programs and have no impact on undergraduate nursing programs, including four-year bachelor’s of science in nursing degrees and two-year associate’s degrees in nursing.
The department said 80% of the nursing workforce does not have a graduate degree.
According to the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC), a group representing 57 nursing organizations, advanced practice registered nurses must complete a graduate degree to be licensed and practice in a state.
According to the NCC in a letter to Department of Education leaders, the average certified registered nurse anesthetist graduates with upward of $200,000 in student loan debt, quickly reaching the aggregate limit, similar to other health profession students.
The American Academy of Nursing echoed other groups concerns, saying the current proposal, if adopted, "could place a dire strain on the health care system related to access and quality of care."
"The gravity of this proposal, should it move forward, is severe. At a time when the complexity of the health care system continues to grow and costs rise, nurses who are highly-educated, skilled professionals driven by evidence, are essential to meeting the challenges of a rapidly evolving environment,” said Debra J. Barksdale, Ph.D., academy president, in a statement.