Penn Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel warned against the Department of Education\u2019s reclassification of professional degrees, which now excludes nursing education.<\/p>\n
The new definition \u2014 which was approved<\/a> by the federal agency earlier this month and is set to take effect on July 1, 2026 \u2014 limits nursing and other graduate students to an annual borrowing cap of $20,500, while granting other degrees a higher annual cap of $50,000. In a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Villarruel wrote that the changes are likely to discourage applicants from pursuing professional education in the nursing field.<\/p>\n A Nov. 6 press release from the Education Department attributed the changes to the One Big Beautiful Bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUnder President Trump\u2019s OBBBA, the Department\u2019s rulemaking will eliminate the Grad PLUS program, which has fueled unsustainable student loan borrowing,\u201d the press release stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n In place of the Grad PLUS program<\/a>, which allowed graduate students to borrow up to the full cost of their degree, the Education Department has set caps on student loans for graduate programs in an effort to ensure borrowers will not face \u201cinsurmountable debt to finance degrees that do not pay off.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The caps are dependent on whether a degree is classified as \u201cprofessional,\u201d which \u2014 according to the new definition \u2014 includes only select degrees, such as medicine, law, pharmacy, dentistry, and theology.<\/p>\n \u201cThese limits – will for many – deter students in enrolling in graduate school – particularly in health professions – including nursing, social work, as well as others – such as education,\u201d Villarruel wrote to the DP.<\/p>\n She added that the changes will similarly impact \u201call students seeking advanced degrees by placing both yearly and overall caps for borrowing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt Penn Nursing, we are concerned about ANY barriers to enrolling in our programs and we will need to see what impact the proposed ruling will have on admissions for our programs,\u201d Villarruel wrote.<\/p>\n While acknowledging the value of \u201cgenerous\u201d donations \u2014 including a $125 million gift<\/a> from 1954 Wharton graduate Leonard Lauder in 2022 \u2014 Villarruel cautioned that individual contributions fail to \u201creach all those that are interested,\u201d and stated that \u201cadditional private and public investments in nursing are needed to meet the growing demand of our population.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cImportantly, decreasing the quality and quantity of providers affects access to health and healthcare services in every area of the country, both urban and rural,\u201d Villarruel wrote. \u201cThis lack of access will also affect the preparation of nursing faculty and nursing science.\u201d<\/p>\n On Nov. 7, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing released<\/a> an article condemning the Education Department\u2019s new definition. AACN wrote that the exclusion of nursing \u201cdisregards decades of progress towards parity\u201d across the healthcare fields, adding that including graduate nursing programs in the list of \u201cprofessional\u201d degrees is a critical step for strengthening the nation\u2019s nursing workforce.<\/p>\n The borrowing cap could also exacerbate the nationwide nursing shortage by creating obstacles to entering the field, according to Johns Hopkins School of Nursing professor Olga Yakusheva.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to limit the ability of nurses to apply for graduate school, and on the back end, it will limit the number of nurses available in primary care settings and in hospitals,\u201d Yakusheva told<\/a> CBS News. \u201cCommunities with shortages of physicians will feel this the most.\u201d<\/p>\n