The Trump administration has been facing growing backlash after the Department of Education excluded nursing and several other fields from its list of “professional degrees”. As a result, nurses and professions like physical therapy no longer qualify for the loan category that allows up to $20,000 per year, with a lifetime cap of $65,000 per student.
What is a professional degree?
According to a report by USA Today, a 1965 federal law defines a “professional degree” as one that represents the completion of all academic requirements needed to begin practising in a profession. Additionally, it also demands an expertise beyond that of a bachelor’s degree.
The law also lists specific examples of such degrees, including Pharmacy (PharmD), Dentistry (DDS or DMD), Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Chiropractic (DC or DCM), Law (LLB or JD), Medicine (MD), Optometry (OD), Osteopathic Medicine (DO), Podiatry (DPM, DP or PodD) and Theology (MDiv or MHL).
Although the law notes that the given list is not a complete one, and that most professional degrees require a license, the administration has relied on this very list when applying new student loan caps under Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”.
According to Nurse.org, the bill eliminates the Grad PLUS loan program, which many used to fund their education. It also imposes tighter limits on Parent PLUS loans. These changes are part of a broader redesign of the federal Repayment Assistance Plan, which introduces stricter caps on annual borrowing for students pursuing advanced degrees.
Under the new rules, students in programs classified as “professional” can borrow up to $20,500 per year, with a cap of $100,000 for graduate students overall. Those in the select list of recognised professional fields can borrow up to $50,000 per year, with a total limit of $200,000.
‘Threatens very foundation of patient care,’ says ANA
Antonia Villarruel, Dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing, told Newsweek that the policy delivers a “serious blow to the health of our nation”.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) has also urged the administration to revise its criteria, adding that the bill “threatens” the foundation of “patient care”. “Nurses make up the largest segment of the healthcare workforce and the backbone of our nation’s health system,” said Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president of the American Nurses Association.
Kennedy added, “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. 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 recognise nursing as the essential profession it is and ensure access to loan programs that make advanced nursing education possible.”
