Nurses across the country are furious after the Department of Education ruled that nursing does not qualify as a “professional degree,” a decision that means nursing students will not receive the same level of financial support as those in other medical fields.
The change stems from the Department of Education’s rollout of new rules under the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Jenn Plescia, a board-certified nurse practitioner who founded IVs by the Seas, an intravenous hydration and aesthetics practice in New Jersey, said that implying nursing does not qualify as a professional degree is “insulting and dismissive of the work that keeps the healthcare system functioning.”
Why It Matters
Under the updated policy, annual federal loans for new borrowers are capped at $20,500 for graduate students and $50,000 for professional students. That makes the label “professional degree” crucial for how much support students can access.
The Department of Education has designated the following health care programs as professional: medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology and clinical psychology. Nursing is not on that list.
This decision affects hundreds of thousands of students in nursing programs. Critics warn it could discourage people from entering or advancing in the profession, deepening staffing shortages and putting additional strain on health services nationwide.
What To Know
Plescia said the move shows a dangerous misunderstanding of what nurses actually do and how extensive their training is. She described nursing as one of the most academically demanding and high-stakes careers in the U.S., requiring constant clinical judgment, medication management, hands-on procedures and coordination of complex care across entire teams.
She worries the new classification will have a “ripple effect” on patient care across the country. In her view, the Department of Education is effectively signaling that advanced nursing education is not worth the investment, while doing nothing to reduce its cost. That, she argued, will make registered nurses think twice before pursuing a master’s or doctorate if it means taking on large amounts of debt without being treated—or paid—as professionals.
The likely result, she said, is fewer advanced-practice providers, longer waits, reduced access to care and more pressure on an already overwhelmed system. With nursing and provider shortages already a serious concern, Plescia believes this decision will only widen the gap.
An American Association of Colleges of Nursing fact sheet, citing 2022 Health Resources and Services Administration data, had already projected a shortage of 63,720 full-time registered nurses by 2030. The association also warned that nursing school enrollment is not increasing quickly enough to keep pace with demand.
“Instead of pushing nursing down, we should be doing everything we can to support and elevate the profession,” Plescia said, arguing that the stability of the entire healthcare system depends on nurses moving into these advanced roles.
Ida Adesina, who spent seven years working as a nurse, taught for more than a decade as an American Heart Association instructor, and is now an accredited Nursing Continuing Education (CEU) provider, said she disagrees with the department’s decision but understands the reasoning it laid out.
She pointed to the department’s own data showing that 95 percent of nursing students borrow less than the annual loan limit, which officials say means most will not be affected by the new caps. Adesina said she believes graduate nursing programs are “significantly overpriced” and that something needed to be done about rising tuition.
But she insisted this is the wrong way to approach the problem. In her view, the policy sends a demoralizing message to nurses who maintain professional standards of care while putting their own health at risk. Calling nurses “heroes” one year and “not professional” the next, she said, undermines and devalues their role and feels like a slap in the face.
The backlash has been broad and swift: more than 200,000 nurses and patients have signed a petition launched by the American Nurses Association urging the Department of Education to revise the policy before it becomes official.
Ellen Keast, press secretary for higher education at the Department of Education, has said the department has relied on a consistent definition of a professional degree for decades and that the new language reflects that precedent. She noted that the negotiating committee, which included higher-education institutions, agreed on the definition that will appear in the proposed rule. Keast added that some institutions are “crying wolf” over regulations that never existed because, in the department’s view, their “unlimited tuition ride on the taxpayer dime is over.”
What Happens Next
The new rules are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2026.
