Luis Molinar, BSN, celebrates his graduation from the St. David’s School of Nursing at Texas State University on a drive-by ceremony on the Round Rock Campus in 2020.

There is one thing we can count on from the government: It's the cycle of proposing something outrageous, provoking public outrage, then back-pedaling for a more reasonable solution.

The latest example: the Department of Education's reclassification of professional degrees.

While national attention has been centered on cuts to food stamp benefits and other hits to social programs in President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, many Americans missed a major shift tucked into the legislation: a redefinition of what counts as a "professional degree."

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Just before Thanksgiving, the Department of Education announced that certain degrees may no longer qualify for the same level of federal loan support because they are not considered "professional." Nursing, physician assistants, architects, accountants, educators, social workers and more were noticeably missing from the list of "professional degrees."

FACT CHECK: Will a Trump era change make it harder for nurses to fund their degrees?

Educators? Nurses? Seriously? It's hard to imagine a faster way to inflame professions already struggling with nationwide shortages and high burnout rates. The outrage came quickly, and media coverage followed.

In response, the Department of Education has released a

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