Statement on the Department of Education’s Decision to Exclude Nursing from Professional Degree Status

As a nurse of more than three decades and a nurse executive working in aging services, I am outraged by the Department of Education’s decision, under the Trump administration, to exclude nursing from the definition of “professional degree” programs in its new federal student loan framework.

On paper, this may look like a technical change tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In reality, it tells millions of nurses and future nurses that our work — life-and-death clinical judgment, 24/7 responsibility, and leadership across the care continuum — is somehow less professional than medicine or law, and therefore less worthy of investment.

Here is what this change means in practice:

• Graduate nursing programs will no longer be treated as “professional” for federal loan purposes.
• Nursing students will be pushed into the lower $100,000 lifetime borrowing cap rather than the $200,000 cap reserved for professional degrees, and new borrowers will lose access to Grad PLUS loans beginning in 2026. (Statesman)

For many nurses, especially those pursuing advanced practice roles and faculty positions, this effectively prices them out of graduate education. It does not reduce the need for nurses. It simply reduces the number of people who can afford to become one.

All of this is happening against a backdrop we cannot ignore:

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 189,100 registered nurse openings every year from 2024 – 2034 as demand grows and experienced nurses retire. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) projects a national RN shortage through at least 2037, with a shortfall of about 208,000 full-time RNs by 2037 — and even larger gaps in non-metro and rural communities. (Bureau of Health Workforce)
• The National Council of State Boards of Nursing reports that more than 138,000 nurses have left the workforce since 2022, and nearly 40% of current nurses intend to leave by 2029. (HAP Online)

We are already struggling to maintain a safe nursing workforce today. We know, with certainty, that we will not have enough nurses to care for the demographic wave of older adults who will depend on us for post-acute care, long-term care, and senior living over the next 10–20 years.

At exactly the same time, our ability to educate new nurses is being choked off:

• In 2023, U.S. nursing schools rejected more than 65,000 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate programs, primarily due to faculty shortages, limited clinical sites, and budget constraints. (AACN)
• AACN’s faculty vacancy data show nearly 2,000 full-time nursing faculty positions unfilled nationwide, a vacancy rate of about 7.8%, and the vast majority of those vacancies require or prefer a doctoral degree. (AACN)

In other words: we cannot take in more nursing students because we do not have enough faculty. And now the federal government is making it harder, not easier, to finance the advanced degrees required to become that faculty.

The impact on aging services, post-acute, and long-term care is especially alarming. Nursing homes and senior living communities are already in crisis:

• A 2024 national survey of nursing homes found that 99% have open positions, 89% are actively trying to hire RNs, and 72% report staffing levels below pre-pandemic levels. Nearly half have had to limit new admissions because they cannot staff beds safely. (AHCA/NCAL)

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) — nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse midwives, and nurse anesthetists — are not a luxury in this environment. They are:

• Often, the primary access point for primary care, chronic disease management, and mental health services in rural, underserved, and long-term care settings.
  
• Critical clinical leaders in post-acute and long-term care, where physician presence is limited and medically complex older adults need high-level assessment, prescribing, and coordination every day.
  

The American Nurses Association has already raised the alarm, warning that excluding nursing from “professional degree” status will severely restrict funding for graduate nursing education and threaten the foundation of patient care. (ANA) The American Association of Colleges of Nursing and other national nursing organizations share these concerns. (AACN) The American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) continues to advocate for robust Title VIII nursing workforce programs, which provide scholarships and loan forgiveness for clinical nurses, APRNs, and nurse faculty — exactly the programs this policy undercuts.

This policy choice does not merely “tighten loan limits.” It devalues nursing as a profession, deepens inequity by putting advanced education further out of reach for nurses from modest backgrounds, and directly conflicts with the stated national priority of strengthening the healthcare workforce.

My ask

I urge the U.S. Department of Education and the administration to:

1. Reinstate nursing within the definition of “professional degree” programs for purposes of federal loan caps and access to affordable graduate financing.
2. Explicitly protect and expand access to federal loans and repayment programs for graduate nursing education — including for nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists, and nurse educators.
3. Align student loan policy with existing bipartisan workforce investments, including full reauthorization and robust funding of Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs, which are designed to grow the nursing workforce, expand APRN education, and support nurse faculty. (AACN)
4. Engage directly with nursing stakeholders — ANA, AACN, AONL, long-term care leaders, and frontline nurses — to craft policies that strengthen, rather than weaken, the nursing pipeline.

We have a nursing shortage today. We will have a nursing shortage tomorrow. And unless we choose differently, we will not have enough nurses — or nursing faculty or advanced practice nurses — to care for the generations of older adults who built this country.

— Liz Jensen, PhD, MSN, RN-BC