The Department of Education has decided to remove nursing from its list of professional degrees, a move that could significantly affect access to student loans for graduate nursing students. Sue Anne Bell, an associate professor of nursing at the University of Michigan, said this decision will worsen existing shortages in the nursing workforce, especially in rural areas where advanced practice nurses often provide primary care.
Under the new policy, which is part of the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” some graduate degrees that require professional training have been cut from the list. For nursing students, this change affects advanced practice nurses, nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists, midwives and others. The bill sets a lifetime borrowing cap of $100,000 for traditional graduate students and $200,000 for those who retain the “professional” designation. Annually, traditional graduate students can borrow up to $20,500 while professional students are capped at $50,000. The legislation also ends Grad PLUS loans that help cover expenses not met by other financial aid.
Bell warned that these changes could further limit efforts to recruit both nurse educators and students. She pointed out that according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), in 2022 there were 2,100 faculty vacancies in nursing schools nationwide. These vacancies led to 80,000 qualified applications being turned away due to lack of teaching capacity.
“Until we expand the pipeline of advanced practice nurses who can teach, mentor and lead, we will continue to face a nursing shortage not because of lack of interest, but because of lack of capacity,” Bell said. “We cannot build a resilient health system without investing in the educators who train it. Expanding access to graduate nursing education is essential, not only to relieve the nursing shortage at the bedside, but also to ensure we have the clinical experts and faculty needed to prepare the next generation.
“A constrained pipeline of advanced practice nurses harms the entire health system: Patients face delays and poorer outcomes, hospitals absorb the strain of chronic understaffing, and insurers see rising costs from avoidable emergency care and readmissions.”
Michigan is projected by federal data from the Health Resources and Services Administration to have a 19% shortfall in registered nurses by 2037—placing it among states with some of the largest anticipated deficits.
According to AACN figures cited by Bell, only 17.4% of registered nurses nationwide hold a master’s degree and just 2.7% hold a doctoral degree. The demand for master’s- and doctorally-prepared nurses far exceeds supply for roles in advanced practice as well as teaching and research.
The new rules are set to take effect on July 1, 2026. The Department of Education has not yet published proposed or final definitions regarding which students qualify as professional students but indicated it may make adjustments after considering public feedback.
