![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1d84fccdd06316a93992293de6146a7ae0-nursing-prof.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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\n FAMU School of Nursing students work in the new simulation lab in Tallahassee in April 2023.
\n Photo: Glenn Beil\/Florida A&M University\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
In July, President Donald Trump<\/a> signed the Republican-crafted One Big Beautiful Act into law, a legislative behemoth that boasted close to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and changes to society-safety programs that sparked the ire of fiscal hawks and Democrats alike. But deep within the massive bill was a less discussed change to the federal government\u2019s financial-aid program with significant implications for students across a variety of fields \u2014 including nursing, the nation\u2019s largest health-care profession.<\/p>\n As part of the funding package, the U.S. Department of Education is ending the Grad PLUS loan program, which allows prospective graduate students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance. Instead, the agency will be instituting borrowing caps, making the maximum figures dependent on whether a student is pursuing a \u201cprofessional degree.\u201d Currently, the list of the graduate programs designated as professional spans a variety of fields, from medicine, dentistry, and law to more surprising inclusions like theology. One notable exemption is that of nursing.<\/p>\n Under the proposed language, graduate students pursuing a \u201cprofessional\u201d degree will be allowed to borrow up to $50,000 annually with an aggregate loan limit of $200,000. But a prospective student enrolled in a graduate nursing program could seek only up to $20,500 annually with an overall limit of $100,000. The changes will officially go into effect on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Nurses have taken to social media to voice their concerns and anger over the shift. \u201cIf you are ever sick and need to see a provider, need a referral, need an epidural, or need any form of healthcare, this should outrage you,\u201d @amypereztxx<\/a> posted on TikTok. \u201cI heard nursing is no longer a professional degree \u2026 now I\u2019m allowed to act as unprofessional as I can,\u201d wrote @nurse_gibby<\/a>. TikTok user @hey_yall_its_eli<\/a>, who identifies as a pediatric-oncology nurse, said, \u201cI love having a career that\u2019s no longer considered professional by a man who can\u2019t even say acetaminophen.\u201d<\/p>\n The loan caps will have a significant impact on aspiring nurses, who will be forced to foot a large portion of their education costs themselves or may even decide against a nursing career entirely, warned American Nurses Association president Jennifer Mensik Kennedy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe average cost of attendance is about $30,000 a year for graduate and doctoral students. What you\u2019re looking at is a $10,000 difference that needs to be made up, which is going to be very hard,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat you\u2019re going to see is maybe people go to get private loans, but private loans are much harder to get. They have higher interest rates.\u201d<\/p>\n Mensik Kennedy noted that the use of private loans will also limit nurses\u2019 ability to utilize the government\u2019s public-loan-forgiveness program for those who choose to work in public health or in underserved communities. \u201cSo we\u2019re taking additional incentives away, unintentionally, for people to serve those communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The limits will have an outsize impact on advanced-practice nurses: registered nurses with advanced degrees whose responsibilities range from primary-care providers to more specialized roles such as nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives. Mensik Kennedy said advanced-practice nurses are often the lead medical provider in smaller, more rural regions with less access to medical care, noting that she spoke to one nurse practitioner who was the only provider within 90 miles of where they practice.<\/p>\n \u201cCertified registered-nurse anesthetists oftentimes are the only anesthesia provider for rural communities. So if you need surgery or you need anesthesia, that is the only option. If those rural hospitals cannot get a CRNA, then they cannot do surgeries and you\u2019re going to have people traveling hundreds of miles to go get care they could have gotten in their own community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The federal government has taken the position that placing these new loan limits will eventually help to lower costs for graduate programs over time. And the Department of Education has challenged assertions from nursing advocates that its recent moves will exacerbate the ongoing nursing shortage, issuing a fact sheet<\/a> that claims that 95 percent of nursing students \u201cborrow below the annual loan limit\u201d and noting that undergraduate nursing programs will not be affected.<\/p>\n \u201cThe definition of a \u2018professional degree\u2019 is an internal definition used by the Department to distinguish among programs that qualify for higher loan limits, not a value judgment about the importance of programs. It has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n But Mensik Kennedy fears the limits could prompt a ripple effect that risks worsening the ongoing nursing staffing crisis that was already exacerbated by high rates of retirements and burnout stemming from the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cWe already have, on average, a 6 percent shortage of nurses. And if people aren\u2019t going to continue and go into nursing school, that shortage is going to get worse as we have this large population of baby-boomers retiring,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are going to see longer waits in the emergency department. They\u2019re not going to be able to find a primary-care provider in their community.\u201d<\/p>\n The situation is not yet set in stone. The official rule defining a \u201cprofessional\u201d student still has to undergo a 30-day public-comment period, and the Education Department has not ruled out making changes to the definition in reaction to feedback.<\/p>\n Professional associations like the ANA are continuing to advocate for an adjustment to the proposed wording as leaders warn that the fallout from this seemingly small rule could have ramifications for years to come if passed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to have a downward effect that\u2019s going to affect us for decades \u2014\u00a0because it\u2019s going to take us decades to climb out of this mess if this is allowed to go through,\u201d Mensik Kennedy said.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Intelligencer\u00a0Newsletter<\/p>\n Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n