Nursing Programs Excluded From Federal “Professional Degree” Definition Under Trump-Backed Education Plan
Nurses warn of severe nationwide shortages as new student-loan rules strip graduate-level nursing programs of professional status and federal borrowing power.
The Department of Education has excluded nursing from the “professional degree” category as part of its implementation of student loan changes outlined in President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Law” proposal. The move has sparked widespread controversy among nurses and nursing associations. The American Nurses Association (ANA) stated that “restricting nurses’ access to graduate funding threatens the foundation of patient care.”
Controversy Over Nursing’s Professional Degree Status
According to Newsweek, the regulatory definition of a professional degree established in 1965 did not explicitly list nursing as a professional discipline, but it also noted that the definition “is not limited” to the listed professions. This ambiguity left unclear whether nursing qualified as a professional degree. Now that the definition directly affects student loan decisions, its exclusion has major consequences.
Eileen Kist, spokesperson for higher education at the Department of Education, denied the reports, saying the department has always followed a consistent definition of professional degree. She emphasized that a committee representing higher education institutions approved a definition that will be included in the proposed rule.
Impact on Nursing Students Nationwide
According to the report, the change will impact hundreds of thousands of students. More than 260,000 students are currently enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs, and around 42,000 are pursuing associate degrees in nursing.
Many warn that this decision will lead to a sharp decline in the number of nurses, affecting healthcare services nationwide.
Under the “Big Beautiful Law,” the Grad PLUS program—designed to help graduate and professional students cover educational expenses—will be eliminated. Parent PLUS loans for parents of dependent undergraduate students will also face new caps.
These measures were introduced to create a “new and simplified” repayment system, setting annual loan limits for new borrowers and for students in professional programs.
As part of this process, the department decided to change its definition of a professional program. It designated certain fields—including medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, law, and veterinary medicine—as professional degrees. This means that physician assistants, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, and audiologists are excluded.
Nursing Leaders Warn of Severe Workforce Shortages
The decision has faced strong opposition from nurses. One nurse said she spent ten years in school with student loan debt, plus fifteen years working in an emergency department, only to be told: “Now my degree is not considered a professional degree.”
She added that the country will face a shortage of one million nurses because they are not given the same financial support for education and training as other medical professions.
Olga Yakusheva, a nursing professor at Johns Hopkins University, affirmed this concern, explaining that with capped federal student loans, fewer nurses will be able to afford graduate education. These degrees allow nurses to diagnose, prescribe medications, and qualify to teach in higher-education institutions. This, she warned, will affect nursing programs’ ability to train new students and “will reduce the number of nursing graduates.”
