Proposed regulations before the U.S. Department of Education would exclude nursing from the list of graduate programs eligible for up to $200,000 in federal education loans.
Capping federal loans for nursing at $100,000 would “severely restrict access to critical funding for graduate nursing education, undermining efforts to grow and sustain the nursing workforce,” the American Nurses Association (ANA) said in a statement earlier this month when the proposal was introduced. Last week, a U.S Department of Education committee adopted the list, which includes medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology, and clinical psychology, Newsweek reported.
As a result, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, and audiologist would be excluded from loans of up to $200,000 and instead limited to $100,000, or $20,500 a year. President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which triggered the caps, also eliminated the Grad PLUS loans, which are used to fund educational expenses not covered by other financial aid, according to the Association of American Universities.
“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,” said ANA President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN. “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.
More than 175,000 people have signed a petition supported by ANA and a dozen other nursing associations urging the Department of Education to add nursing to the professions list.
“If this proposal stands, graduate nursing students would have access to only half the amount of federal student loan funding available to physicians, dentists, and other listed professions,” said Mensik Kennedy. “This would make it harder for nurses to pursue advanced practice and faculty roles at a time when our healthcare system needs them most.”
The Department of Education argued that “Previously, graduate students could borrow up to the cost of attendance, which led institutions to offer expensive graduate programs with a negative return on investment.” The department added that the change would put pressure on universities to lower tuition.
“This will benefit borrowers who will no longer be pushed into insurmountable debt to finance degrees that do not pay off,” added Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent.
The department also responded to criticism for excluding nursing from the professions list by noting that nursing was never included in the federal government’s regulatory list of professional degrees going back to 1965. However, the regulations prefaced that list by saying, “Examples of a professional degree include but are not limited to…”
“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,” Ellen Keast, the Education Department press secretary for higher education, told the American-Statesman in an email. “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.”
ANA’s Mensik Kennedy noted, however, that the move runs counter to the administration’s recognition of the value of expanding advanced practice nursing.
The Department of Education is expected to make the new regulations open for public comment early next year.
