Trump Admin Faces New Pressure Over Nursing Not Being ‘Professional’ Degree

Members of Congress have sent a letter to the Department of Education demanding that the Trump administration's policy, which determines nursing is not a "professional" degree, be reversed, amid what they said was a "nursing crisis."

Connecticut lawmakers, including Senators Christopher Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, and Representatives Joe Courtney, Jim Himes, Jahana Hayes, Rosa DeLauro, and John Larson, sent the letter to the department on February 27, noting their "strong disapproval" of the policy.

When approached for comment, the Department of Education pointed Newsweek to a previous press release on the definition of professional degrees, specifically to the note in the release that "Department of Education data indicates that 95 percent of nursing students borrow below the annual loan limit and therefore are not affected by the new caps."

The department says in its press release that "the loan limits are limited to graduate programs and have no impact on undergraduate nursing programs, including four-year bachelor’s of science in nursing degrees and two-year associate’s degrees in nursing. 80 percent of the nursing workforce does not have a graduate degree."

The department also pointed to the note in the press release that "the definition of a 'professional degree' is an internal definition used by the Department to distinguish among programs that qualify for higher loan limits, not a value judgement about the importance of programs. It has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not."

Why It Matters

As part of the provisions in President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, polices around student loans are going to be changed so that certain pre-existing programs are replaced with a Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)—whereby annual loans for new borrowers were capped at $20,500 for graduate students and $50,000 for professional students.

This policy, therefore, means that whether a degree is considered "professional" is now a determining factor in how much students can take out as loans.

Under the new provision, the Department of Education noted that the following programs were professional: medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology and clinical psychology.

This meant that physician assistants, nurse practitioners, physical therapists and audiologists were excluded from the list, among a considerable number of other degrees.

In the regulatory definition of a professional degree (34 CFR 668.2) from 1965, the text lists a number of professions, but says a professional degree is "not limited to" those mentioned, meaning it is unclear how many of the degrees not counted as professional now have always been considered non-professional.

The move outraged nurses and nursing groups, and more than 200,000 Americans signed a petition started by the American Nurses Association to ask the department to modify the policy to include nursing.

What To Know

In the letter, the lawmakers representing Connecticut said that the Department of Education "has both deviated from historical practice and threatened public health by determining that post-baccalaureate nursing degrees should not be
considered 'professional degrees.'"

They added that the policy excludes a number of nursing degrees that form the required training for a wide variety of advanced practice registered nurses, and that these nurses "fill critical gaps in the health care workforce, encompassing primary care services, mental health services, maternal and infant health, and nursing school faculty to name a few."

The lawmakers also noted that nurses often seek "additional degrees" to meet the "critical patient care needs across our healthcare system," adding that nurses are in particularly high demand across the country.

They cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics stating there is an estimated average of 32,700 openings nationally for nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners each year through 2034, representing a 35 percent increase in demand for these key roles. They added that this is "significantly" higher than the 3 percent projected growth across all occupations.

Additionally, they cited data from a 2024 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) report, which found that 40.2 percent of the nursing workforce have completed a second degree or advanced certificate since initially entering the workforce.

Based on this data, the lawmakers asserted that the change in policy will "only deepen the existing shortages" in the nursing and health care industry.

"As we continue to grapple with the steady rise in the cost for a post-baccalaureate education, these changes will have consequences for degree access and attainment, severely limiting who will be able to enter and access certain professions," they wrote.

The costs of college degrees are getting higher and higher, and over the last 30 years, the average tuition cost for both public and private colleges has doubled after adjusting for inflation, according to a report by NPR.

Studies have also revealed the financial difficulty faced by nurses as they try to cover the high costs of their education, with a significant proportion having to turn to side hustles, according to a survey carried out by St. Thomas University last year.

What People Are Saying

Department of Education press secretary for higher education, Ellen Keast, previously told Newsweek: "The Department has had a consistent definition of what constitutes a professional degree for decades and the consensus-based language aligns with this historical precedent. The committee, which included institutions of higher education, agreed on the definition that we will put forward in a proposed rule. We’re not surprised that some institutions are crying wolf over regulations that never existed because their unlimited tuition ride on the taxpayer dime is over."

The Connecticut lawmakers wrote in their February 27 letter to the Department of Education: "This is not the time, in the midst of a nursing crisis, to limit the student pipeline to these critical fields or leave prospective nurses vulnerable to the private student loan market. Nurses ensure the health and safety of millions and nurse faculty educate the next generation. As such, we urge the Department to revise its draft rule and classify post-baccalaureate nursing degrees under the definition of 'professional degree.'"

What Happens Next

The Trump administration's changes to student loan policy are set to come into place from July 2026.