Nursing is no longer counted as a 'professional degree' by Trump admin
The Department of Education has excluded nursing as a "professional degree" program as it implements various changes to student loans.
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News Article
Nursing Is No Longer Counted as a ‘Professional Degree’ by Trump Admin
Published
Nov 20, 2025 at 09:15 AM EST
updated
Nov 21, 2025 at 03:26 AM EST
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The Department of Education has excluded nursing as a "professional degree" program as it sets about implementing various measures regarding student loans laid out in President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill."
The move has sparked significant uproar among nurses and nursing groups, with the American Nurses Association saying, as reported by Nursing World, that "limiting nurses’ access to funding for graduate education threatens the very foundation of patient care."
In the regulatory definition of a professional degree (34 CFR 668.2) from 1965, nursing was not definitively listed as a professional degree, although the text lists a number of professions, but says a professional degree is "not limited to" those mentioned.
It is therefore not clear in the text if nursing was previously classified as a professional degree, but now that the term is forming part of student loan determinations, its omission is having an impact.
Department of Education press secretary for higher education Ellen Keast told Newsweek: "This is fake news at its finest. The Department has had a consistent definition of what constitutes a professional degree for decades and the consensus-based language aligns with this historical precedent. The committee, which included institutions of higher education, agreed on the definition that we will put forward in a proposed rule. We’re not surprised that some institutions are crying wolf over regulations that never existed because their unlimited tuition ride on the taxpayer dime is over."
Why It Matters
The change will impact hundreds of thousands of students—there are over 260,000 students currently enrolled in entry-level Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) programs and around 42,000 enrolled in Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), according to data collected by the American Nurses Association.Many have warned the move will lead to a significant drop in the number of nurses in the country, impacting health care services nationwide.
File photo: a nurse working in a clinic. | Getty Images/Dragos Condrea
What To Know
In the One Big Beautiful Bill, the Grad PLUS program, designed to help graduate and professional students cover educational expenses, is being eliminated, while Parent PLUS loans, student loans available for parents of dependent undergraduate students, are being capped.These measures were brought in with the intention of creating a "new and simplified" Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)—whereby annual loans for new borrowers were capped at $20,500 for graduate students and $50,000 for professional students.
As part of this implementation process, the Department of Education decided to change the definition of what counted as a professional program, and therefore eligible for the $200,000 aggregate limit available for professional students.
The department determined that the following programs were professional: medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology and clinical psychology.
This meant that physician assistants, nurse practitioners, physical therapists and audiologist were excluded from the list.
One nurse posted through the IVs By The Seas TikTok account, a clinic offering mobile IV hydration and aesthetic services in New Jersey: "10 years of schooling... $210k in student loan debt... 15 years of ER and Trauma experience which included preventing physicians from making error at 3 a.m. and now... my degree isn't considered a professional degree. Cool."
She also said that the country would be "short by a million other nurses" by not providing them with the same reimbursement on their education and training as other medical professions.
"With a cap on federal student loans, fewer nurses will be able to afford graduate nursing education, such as Master's, [Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)], and Ph.D. degrees," Olga Yakusheva, a professor of nursing and business of health at Johns Hopkins University, told Newsweek.
She added that these degrees allowed nurses career pathways to "organizational leadership, ability to diagnose and prescribe medications, training to lead independent research, and credentials to teach at institutions of higher education."
She said that this in turn would impact the capacity of the U.S. nursing programs and "reduce the numbers of new nurse graduates at the baccalaureate and associate degree levels."
What People Are Saying
Department of Education press secretary for higher education Ellen Keast told Newsweek: "This is fake news at its finest. The Department has had a consistent definition of what constitutes a professional degree for decades and the consensus-based language aligns with this historical precedent. The committee, which included institutions of higher education, agreed on the definition that we will put forward in a proposed rule. We’re not surprised that some institutions are crying wolf over regulations that never existed because their unlimited tuition ride on the taxpayer dime is over."Patricia (Polly) Pittman, a professor of health policy and management and director of the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity at George Washington University, told Newsweek: "There is no question that this is a gut punch for nursing. It is unconscionable that in a period when government should be focused on finding ways to retain licensed nurses in the field, the cap on loans represents a major barrier to continued education. Education, including from [Licensed Practice Nurse (LPN)] to ADN to BSN, and then beyond to become an advanced practice nurse, is the single best way to retain nurses, especially in rural and underserved communities. At a symbolic level, it is also deeply insulting to nurses who have fought so hard to be recognized for their critical contributions to health care."
Olga Yakusheva, a professor of nursing and business of health at Johns Hopkins University, told Newsweek: "The broader impact will be increased shortages of primary care, especially in areas with significant physician shortages. This could mean longer wait times and less time with your medical provider; as well as higher workloads for physicians. The strain on the educational system can lead to long-term reductions in the domestically educated nursing workforce, increasing labor costs and a growing reliance on foreign-educated nurses.
Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association said in a statement, per Nursing World: "Nurses make up the largest segment of the health care workforce and the backbone of our nation’s health system. At a time when health care 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 recognize nursing as the essential profession it is and ensure access to loan programs that make advanced nursing education possible."
Antonia Villarruel, professor and dean of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, told Newsweek: "In today's health and health care landscape, nurses are needed everywhere; not only because of their holistic perspectives on health, but because of their deep science-based knowledge and ability to apply to evidence based solutions—to life and death situations—and everything in between.
"Not including nursing as a professional degree is yet another barrier to nursing education. Restricting access to guaranteed federal loans will severely limit the number of highly educated providers to provide care in this complex environment. This impacts nurse preparation at every level—and especially graduate nursing education. Not including nursing as a professional degree is more than an affront to the nation's most trusted profession—it is serious blow to the health of our nation."
What Happens Next
According to New America, the new measures will be implemented from July 1, 2026.Update 11/20/25, 10:24 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Antonia Villarruel.
Update 11/20/25, 1:44 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to clarify whether nursing was previously classed as a professional degree.
Update 11/21/25, 2:58 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from the Department of Education.
