30/11/2025
Fact of the matter, Nurses are professionals!
Social media posts have mushroomed online claiming that the Trump administration is disrespecting nurses by not designating their career field as requiring a "professional degree" for graduate student loan purposes.
The controversy is much to do about nothing.
Nonetheless, people like Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama posted online, "The U.S. is already facing a dire shortage of nurses and health care professionals."
"To strip them of their professional status is insulting and will only make it harder for aspiring nurses to access financial assistance and pursue their degrees. Our nurses are the backbone of our health care system. They deserve better!" she wrote.
A provision in the "Big Beautiful Bill," passed over the summer, sets limits on the amount of money that graduate students can borrow for school loans.
The U.S. is already facing a dire shortage of nurses and health care professionals. To strip them of their professional status is insulting and will only make it harder for aspiring nurses to access financial assistance and pursue their degrees.
Our nurses are the backbone of… pic.twitter.com/0AX39uDGo3
— Rep. Terri A. Sewell () November 24, 2025
"These loan limits will help drive down the cost of graduate programs and reduce the debt students have to take out. Graduate students received more than half of all new federal student loans originated in recent years, and graduate student loans now make up half of the outstanding $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio," the Department of Education said on its website.
"Under the Act, the agency is required to identify 'professional degree' programs that will be eligible for higher federal lending limits. A negotiating committee convened by the agency has proposed a consensus definition that designates Medicine (M.D.), Dentistry (D.D.S./D.M.D.), Law (L.L.B./J.D.), and several other high-cost programs as eligible for a $200,000 borrowing limit," the federal agency said.
Meanwhile, those who pursue other graduate or doctoral programs, including those seeking advanced degrees in nursing, are capped at $100,000.
Undergraduate students, such as those seeking a registered nurse degree, are "generally not affected by the new lending limits."
The Education Department addressed the issue of whether the Trump administration views nurses as professionals.
"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," the agency said.
The Education Department recounted, "Since 2007, graduate and professional students have been able to borrow up to the full cost of attendance. This has allowed colleges and universities to dramatically increase tuition rates, even for credentials with modest earnings potential, which has saddled too many borrowers with debts they find difficult to repay. The Act’s annual federal loan caps are already reining in inflated prices at graduate programs across the country."
The American Enterprise Institute's Preston Cooper noted that the graduate degree loan caps are now $50,000 per year and $200,000 in total.
Santa Clara University School of Law in California responded by, in effect, dropping its tuition by $16,000 per year in the form of a scholarship to all students.
The school’s rationale for its new scholarship program is clear: Santa Clara says that the initiative is “designed to offset the impact of the recent repeal of the Graduate Plus federal-loan program, which is effective July 1, 2026.” It is “designed to ensure that next year’s incoming class has access to the funds they need… despite new federal loan limits.”
So, the Trump administration is trying to lower tuition costs across the country by setting loan caps on graduate degrees. Otherwise, schools will continue to raise their tuition prices each year, forcing students to borrow more.
But none of this impacts the fact that nurses are professionals.
Tap the link to vote on polls, comment, and get email updates of stories just like this one.
http://dlvr.it/TPVqgg
