Public concern has spread rapidly throughout the nation after the Department of Education announced that one of the most respected and heavily enrolled college majors will no longer qualify as a “professional degree.”
Under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, students who select academic programs officially recognized as professional degrees now gain access to federal student loans of up to $200,000 over the course of their studies. Every remaining degree program faces a firm limit of $100,000 in federal support.
Nursing emerges as the most prominent field removed from the professional-degree category, drawing sharp criticism from medical associations and educational leaders who warn that the change threatens to weaken patient care and intensify existing staffing challenges in hospitals and clinics nationwide.
Currently, more than 260,000 dedicated students across the United States pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. An additional 42,000 commit themselves to Associate Degree in Nursing pathways. Faculty members, hospital administrators, and advocacy groups voice alarm that the lower borrowing ceiling will steer talented individuals away from these vital programs, further aggravating the widespread shortage of qualified nurses.
“Nurses form the very foundation of our country’s healthcare delivery,” Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, emphasized during an appearance on NewsNation. “Our healthcare system already operates with shortages measured in tens of thousands of registered nurses and advanced practice nurses. Restrictions on educational funding will block capable men and women from choosing nursing and from preparing the caregivers who will serve future generations.”
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing released a strongly worded response to the ruling: “Excluding nursing from the professional-degree designation rolls back decades of hard-won recognition of nursing as a full healthcare profession. The decision stands in direct conflict with the Department’s own criteria, which describe professional programs as those that lead to state licensure and direct clinical practice. Should this policy take permanent effect, the consequences for an already overstretched nursing workforce will prove profoundly damaging.”
Records remain somewhat unclear regarding any previous formal designation of nursing as a professional degree. What stands beyond question, however, lies in the immediate financial impact the new classification imposes on thousands of aspiring nurses at a time when healthcare facilities desperately need more graduates.
Ellen Keast, press secretary for higher education at the Department of Education, offered a firm defense of the policy in remarks to Newsweek: “The Department continues to employ the identical definition of ‘professional degree’ that has guided federal policy for many decades. Today’s language reflects complete consensus from the negotiating committee, a group that included representatives from colleges and universities nationwide. Certain institutions now express dissatisfaction because clear borrowing limits have replaced unrestricted access to taxpayer-funded loans.”
The Department’s published list of programs that successfully meet professional-degree standards includes medicine, pharmacy, law, dentistry, osteopathic medicine, veterinary medicine, optometry, podiatry, chiropractic care, theology, and clinical psychology.
As nursing educators, healthcare providers, and students grapple with the practical effects of the new loan structure, calls for reconsideration grow louder from those who witness daily the essential role nurses play in American medicine. The weeks and months ahead will determine whether policymakers address these widespread concerns or allow the revised rules to reshape the pipeline of one of the nation’s most indispensable professions.
