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The proposed changes would lower federal loan limits for graduate nursing students and has sparked widespread backlash from nursing organizations.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Education has excluded nursing from its definition of “professional degree” programs as it implements student loan changes under President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a move nursing organizations warn could worsen the nation’s healthcare staffing crisis.
The reclassification affects federal loan limits for graduate nursing students beginning July 1, 2026, when students pursuing master’s, doctorate and other advanced nursing degrees will face significantly lower borrowing caps than those in fields still designated as professional programs.
Under the new rules, students in recognized professional degree programs can borrow up to $50,000 annually and $200,000 total. Graduate students in programs not classified as professional, including nursing, are capped at $20,500 per year and $100,000 overall.
The Department of Education now recognizes only 11 fields as professional programs: medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology and clinical psychology. Notably absent are nursing, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical therapists and audiologists.
Impact on students and workforce
The move has sparked backlash from nursing organizations, who warn that making it more difficult to access federal funding and potentially more expensive for students to receive graduate-level nursing education could worsen the country’s nurse shortage.
“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,” the American Nurses Association said in a statement. “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.”
Most graduate-level nursing students rely on federal financial aid to complete their degrees, which are necessary for advanced practice roles including nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and clinical nurse specialists.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has joined other health profession schools in urging the department to include health professions in the professional degree definition before final rules are published early next year.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said “the Department did not update the federal definition of ‘professional degree’ to exclude nursing. The definition never included it.”
While the definition did not specifically include nursing, it said a professional degree is “not limited to” those mentioned.
“Nurses can still take out loans – upwards of $100,000 for their graduate degree. Per NCES’s 2020 data, the average cost for Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs ranges from $15,030-$42,880, so most nursing graduates will likely not be impacted by the new caps,” the DOE spokesperson continued.
Broader student loan changes
The exclusion of nursing is part of sweeping changes to federal student loan programs. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminates Grad PLUS loans for new borrowers starting in the 2026-2027 academic year and caps Parent PLUS loans at $20,000 annually and $65,000 total.
Current students who have received Grad PLUS loans can continue accessing them for up to three years or their remaining expected time to complete their degrees.
The law also restructures repayment plans, eliminating most current options including the Biden-era SAVE plan. Borrowers will choose between a standard repayment plan or a new income-based Repayment Assistance Plan allowing payments of 1% to 10% of income for up to 30 years.
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