Nursing Excluded as 'Professional' Degree by Department of Education

Summary

The U.S. Department of Education has officially excluded nursing in its recently revamped definition of “professional degree” programs. This change occurs as part of the implementation of President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA) and has nursing organizations nationwide raising alarms. Why? Because the reclassification directly impacts how graduate nursing students access federal loans and loan forgiveness programs. It also, according to some critics, threatens already-existing stereotypes about the nursing profession and could make an already critical nursing shortage even worse. The OBBA caps undergraduate loans and eliminates the GRAD PLUS program for graduate and professional students, while creating a new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). Under the new plan, only students pursuing a "professional" degree can borrow up to $50,000 annually. To clarify who can access that money as a professional student, the Department of Education categorized the following programs as professional: Medicine Pharmacy Dentistry Optometry Law Veterinary medicine Osteopathic medicine Podiatry Chiropractic Theology Clinical psychology Notably excluded from that list? Nurse practitioners, along with physician assistants and physical therapists. In simple terms, becoming an advanced practice nurse just got harder and more expensive. Graduate nursing students, already burdened with high tuition, will lose financial benefits reserved for professional degree programs. This could deter prospective students, especially those from underrepresented or economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Leading nursing organizations also say the move could lower the application and graduation rates of RNs, as all graduate nursing programs first require graduation from an RN program. While some RNs may go into school with the intent of furthering their education, not all do, and many may choose to work at the bedside in the interim or to gain experience. Without the ability to feel like they hav...