WASHINGTON — In a move that has raised concerns among healthcare professionals, the Department of Education has excluded nursing from its list of “professional degree” programs. This decision comes as part of the student loan reforms under President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Nursing groups are warning that this exclusion could exacerbate the existing healthcare staffing shortage across the nation.

This reclassification will impact the federal loan limits for graduate nursing students starting July 1, 2026. Students pursuing advanced nursing degrees, such as master’s and doctorates, will encounter much lower borrowing limits compared to their counterparts in fields still recognized as professional programs.

According to the new regulations, students in designated professional degree programs will be able to borrow up to $50,000 annually, with a maximum of $200,000 overall. In contrast, those in graduate programs not classified as professional, like nursing, will face borrowing limits of $20,500 per year and $100,000 in total.

The Department of Education currently acknowledges only 11 fields as professional programs: medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology, and clinical psychology. Notably missing from this list are nursing, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical therapists, and audiologists.

The move has sparked backlash from nursing organizations, who warn that making it more difficult to access federal funding and potentially more expensive for students to receive graduate-level nursing education could worsen the country’s nurse shortage. 

“At a time when healthcare in our country faces a historic nurse shortage and rising demands, limiting nurses’ access to funding for graduate education threatens the very foundation of patient care,” the American Nurses Association said in a statement. “In many communities across the country, particularly in rural and underserved areas, advanced practice registered nurses ensure access to essential, high-quality care that would otherwise be unavailable. We urge the Department of Education to recognize nursing as the essential profession it is and ensure access to loan programs that make advanced nursing education possible.”

Most graduate-level nursing students rely on federal financial aid to complete their degrees, which are necessary for advanced practice roles including nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and clinical nurse specialists.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has joined other health profession schools in urging the department to include health professions in the professional degree definition before final rules are published early next year.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said “the Department did not update the federal definition of ‘professional degree’ to exclude nursing. The definition never included it.”

While the definition did not specifically include nursing, it said a professional degree is “not limited to” those mentioned.

“Nurses can still take out loans – upwards of $100,000 for their graduate degree. Per NCES’s 2020 data, the average cost for Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs ranges from $15,030-$42,880, so most nursing graduates will likely not be impacted by the new caps,” the DOE spokesperson continued.

The exclusion of nursing is part of sweeping changes to federal student loan programs. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminates Grad PLUS loans for new borrowers starting in the 2026-2027 academic year and caps Parent PLUS loans at $20,000 annually and $65,000 total.

Current students who have received Grad PLUS loans can continue accessing them for up to three years or their remaining expected time to complete their degrees.

The law also restructures repayment plans, eliminating most current options including the Biden-era SAVE plan. Borrowers will choose between a standard repayment plan or a new income-based Repayment Assistance Plan allowing payments of 1% to 10% of income for up to 30 years.