Trump’s tax and spending law set loan limits on graduate programs based on whether they are “professional.” The Education Department didn’t categorize nursing graduate programs as “professional,” so those students may face borrowing limits.
Nurse practitioner Eliza Otero, left, talks with Fernando Hermida at Pineapple Healthcare in Orlando, Fla., on May 28, 2024. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act sets new loan limits on what it categorizes as"professional" graduate programs.
An Education Department proposal defining which graduate degrees fall into the"professional" category excludes nursing, among many other degrees.Reports that a Trump administration change might make it harder for aspiring nurses to pay for their education sparked outrage online."The Dept. of Education just removed nursing from the list of ‘professional degree’ programs under the Administration’s new loan rules — a move nurses say threatens the future of patient care," radio personality Angela Yeepassed on lists of degrees no longer considered"professional" under Trump, including nursing and also physical therapy, architecture, accounting, teaching, engineering and social work. Graduate nursing students could soon face new federal borrowing limits, but these comments mislead by saying the Trump administration took nurses’"professional" classification away.set federal loan borrowing limits for nonprofessional and professional graduate students. The first step in implementing those new loan limits is defining which degrees are"professional." An Education Department committee agreed on 11 professional degrees based on an existing definition in federal code; the decision is not final.However, the changes mean students pursuing graduate degrees in nursing would have a lower borrowing cap compared with borrowers enrolled in professional degrees. The new loan caps don’t affect undergraduate students, and not all nursing jobs require graduate degrees. Nurse Rod Salaysay plays guitar for patient Richard Hoang in the recovery unit of UC San Diego Health in San Diego, Calif., on Sept. 30, 2025. eliminated a loan program that allows graduate students to borrow enough money to cover their program’s full cost. That program provided for limitless borrowing, said higher education finance expert and University of Tennessee, Knoxville professor Robert Kelchen. In its place, the Trump-era law implements new federal loan limits beginning July 1, 2026: up to $20,500 every academic year and $100,000 in total for grad students pursuing nonprofessional degrees and up to $50,000 every academic year and $200,000 in total for grad students seeking professional degrees.Nursing was never on that list. But graduate nursing students will be affected by the lower cap for nonprofessional graduate students. "That distinction did not matter because graduate and professional students largely had the exact same loan limits," Kelchen said."Now, that distinction matters." On Nov. 6, a committee charged with implementing the federal student loan changes approved a definition for "professional students" that included the 10 degrees listed in federal code and clinical psychology. The committee also approved an, which said its data shows 95% of nursing students borrow below the yearly loan limits and"are not affected by the new caps."National Center for Health Workforce Analysis report Some nurses choose to pursue a master’s or doctorate degree after they start working. Half of nurses said theyIt typically takes two to three years to earn a nursing master’s degree and roughly five to eight years to earn a doctorate in nursing, Debra Barksdale, president of the American Academy of Nursing, said. At the University of Michigan's nursing school in Ann Arbor, Mich., instructor Betsy Cambridge, center, talks to students next to a high-fidelity mannequin on March 28, 2016. master’s or doctoral degree programs, fill in some gaps between nurses and doctors. They can perform and interpret diagnostic tests and diagnose and treat some conditions. "The current demand for master’s- and doctorally-prepared nurses for advanced practice, clinical specialties, teaching and research roles far outstrips the supply," Barksdale said.research shows that by the time nursing students complete their advanced degrees, they have borrowed less than $100,000. It’s unclear how that breaks down year-by-year for the annual $20,500 cap. Of 140 advanced nursing programs with debt data, 115 programs’ data showed their 2019 and 2020 graduates finished degrees with median student debt below $100,000,Social media posts said the Trump administration removed nursing from the list of professional degree programs, affecting aspiring nurses’ student loan access. A new Trump administration law imposes federal borrowing caps for people pursuing graduate degrees. The borrowing limits are lower for degrees not considered"professional." An Education Department committee proposed a definition for"professional" that largely relies on an existing federal regulation that never included nursing. Some nursing jobs require no advanced degree, and research shows nurses typically complete their degrees with loan amounts under the new cap. However, the proposed change would put a new burden on nursing graduate students seeking federal loans, because their degrees would not be eligible for the higher"professional" cap.Email interview with Robert Kelchen, an educational leadership and policy professor and department head at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Nov. 24, 2025 Phone interview with Sarah Sattelmeyer, Project Director, Education, Opportunity, and Mobility at New America, Nov. 25, 2025 Email interview with Debra Barksdale, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP, ANEF, FAAN and president of the American Academy of Nursing and the dean of the University of North Carolina Greensboro’s School of Nursing, Nov. 25, 2025 Emailed statement from the American Nurses Association’s policy and government affairs team, Nov. 25, 2025 Nurses Are Skilled Professionals Essential to the Function of the U.S. Health Care System and Deserving of Professional Degree Recognition There was not “a single, prominent conservative voice in the country that even remotely wanted or hoped or was pushing to get Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air.” Un vídeo muestra al presidente francés, Emmanuel Macron, al primer ministro del Reino Unido, Keir Starmer, y al canciller alemán, Friedrich Merz, con una bolsa de cocaína tras visitar al presidente ucraniano, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A video shows French President Emmanuel Macron, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Freidrich Merz with a bag of cocaine after visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “There’s about 1,400 criminal illegal aliens that, right now, are in North Carolina and Charlotte’s jails that they refuse to turn over to ICE law enforcement.”
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