U.S. President Donald Trump holds a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Palm Beach, Fla, on Dec. 29, 2025.Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Zubin Austin is a professor and the academic director of the Centre for Practice Excellence at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, and the president-elect of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Amid much noise emanating from Washington these days, a seemingly small change with potentially big ramifications for society was announced.

Last month, the Trump administration proposed changes in the way postsecondary degrees are classified – and which degrees will no longer be considered “professional” for the purposes of determining student aid for graduate studies. If this change comes into effect, the U.S. Department of Education will not consider the following to be professional degrees eligible for higher student-loan limits: nursing, physical therapists, physician assistants, audiologists, architects, accountants, educators and social workers.

The most immediate practical impact of this change in designation will be a significant reduction in the amount of financial aid that will be available to students in these fields. This of course will reduce access to education and most likely will further worsen existing skills........

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