US EditionStudent Loan Changes Could Impact Nursing, Other Programs Not Considered 'Professional'
The Department of Education's new rules cut many fields from professional degree status, limiting graduate loan caps to $20,500 annually unless programs remain classified professional.
- The U.S. Department of Education redefined graduate programs as 'professional' and tied federal loan access to this classification, implementing President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill and replacing existing loan programs.
- The administration updated CIP-code alignments to remove nursing, physician assistant training, physical therapy and audiology from the professional degree list, redefining eligibility for federal loan limits.
- Under the One Big Beautiful Bill, only students in designated professional-degree programs qualify for the $200,000 loan limit while others face $100,000; University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh programs costing nearly $100,000 highlight affordability strains amid Wisconsin's 19,000 nurse shortage, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development projects.
- Professional groups reacted by filing petitions through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, while Gina Dennik-Champion warned this change will harm underserved rural areas and students report personal loans for living costs.
- If exclusions stand, the changes take effect next July, and UW Oshkosh leadership will appeal to legislators while institutions and professional advocates warn the reclassification risks limiting graduate education access, Elertson said.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Education Department Cuts Student Loans for Nursing, Education, Other Useful Professions
My high school physics teacher once admonished me not to get a graduate degree in education.Get a real degree, he said. I’m not sure the master’s degree I completed or the doctorate I ABD’d at DSU in information systems were any more “real” than education Amidst the dissolution of the Department of Education, the Trump Administration has decided to stop considering the advanced degrees required of nurses, physician assistants, physical therapist…
Trump’s Department of Education strips “professional” status from teaching, nursing and other essential fields
Trump’s redefinition of “professional” degrees aims to push working-class students out of healthcare and education specialities and further undermine science and culture.
New caps ahead on student loans for graduate students
The tax and spending package known as the Big Beautiful Bill will limit how much graduate students and parents can take out in federal student loans, and while the caps will be higher for programs that Congress defines as "professional degrees," such as law and medicine, it's what that definition excludes that has some people upset.
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