Nurses aren't professionals? That devastates our health careCatherine S. Finlayson, Heather Dennis and Vidia Saleem |
Our hearts sank when we read the Department of Education's new classification: nursing is no longer considered a "professional degree" program. For those of us balancing clinical practice and doctoral studies, this decision isn't just disappointing — it is dangerous. It threatens not only academic advancement but the stability of the entire U.S health care system.
This isn't just our story — it's the story of more than 300,000 students currently enrolled in nursing school who now face impossible barriers to advancing their education. It's the story of a system that claims to value health care while systematically devaluing those who provide it.
A policy that rewrites the value of nursing
Under the Trump administration's "One Big Beautiful Bill," the Department of Education will determine what qualifies as a "professional degree" worthy of higher loan limits: medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, law and veterinary medicine. Devastatingly, like many of our health care partners, nursing didn't make the list.
The practical impact is staggering. Graduate nursing students will face a loan cap of $20,500 annually instead of the $50,000 available to "professional" students. When an advanced degree program costs upward of $100,000 and takes years to complete, a $20,500 annual cap doesn't cover tuition, let alone living expenses for students who must reduce clinical hours to attend........