November 21, 2025
The shift can greatly impact how much up-in-coming nurses can borrow as they prepare to enter a field facing historic shortages.
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) states that nursing programs will no longer be classified as professional degree programs, which will impact funding for thousands.
The shift can greatly impact how much up-and-coming nurses can borrow as they prepare to enter a field facing historic shortages. The DOE’s definition of a professional degree matters greatly when seeking access to federal funding. As the One Big Beautiful Bill becomes law, new funding mandates have been put into place to govern higher education. A professional degree classification determines eligibility for the $200,000 borrowing limit set aside for skilled students.
Under the new criteria, fields like medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic training, theology, and clinical psychology still qualify as professional programs.
However, programs for physician assistants, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, and audiologists are no longer considered “professional’ fields of study. Nursing programs were also left off the official list.
The DOE says the categorization is not new, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
“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,” said Ellen Keast, Education Department press secretary for higher education, in an email. “The committee, which included institutions of higher education, agreed on the definition that we will put forward in a proposed rule.”
Keast added that nursing “was never meant to be included,” a point the department is now clarifying publicly.
The ruling arrives as the cost of nursing school continues to rise. According to NurseJournal.org, tuition varies widely depending on degree type and location. Yet many programs rely on federal loan structures that may shift as a result of the new definition.
Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, said the change carries many implications, many of them negative, for students and the general public.
“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,” Mensik Kennedy said in a statement.
The American Nurses Association reports that more than 260,000 students are enrolled in entry-level BSN programs, and about 42,000 are enrolled in ADN programs. These students may now face loan limits of $20,500 a year for graduate study, while professional programs retain access to $50,000 a year.
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