As of Nov. 6, the implementation of a new aspect of the Trump Administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act was announced. The Department of Education was told to evaluate a number of graduate programs and redefine whether they should be considered “professional” or not. As a result, the programs for nursing, physical therapy, physician’s assistants, architecture, education, and more were stripped of their “professional degree” titles. This is due to the fact that students taking professional degrees are able to ask for around an annual $50,000 in student loans from the federal government, and $200,000 for four years. But now these graduate programs will only be restricted to $20,500 per year, and $100,000 annually, cutting the borrowing amount in half.
This action has caused a huge uproar in the nursing community, with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing saying that it is “deeply concerned” by this decision. This new federal cap on loans will mean that less people will be able to afford this higher level of education. It favors the rich over the talented in an already very selective field.
The belief is that universities will stop making the programs as expensive and lower the costs, but that won’t help at all. According to insidehighered.com, they’ll still have to pay teachers the same amount, and if they take away crucial equipment for education, then it only serves to underprepare an extremely crucial workforce. The American Nurse’s Association even said this will “restrict access to critical funding”, because it will disadvantage a program that has to be very careful about the way they teach their students.
This decision directly affects those that want to go into these graduate programs—especially those at State High, like senior Maddie Brown who wants to go into nursing. “If we stop giving out these degrees, then people stop getting them, we stop having teachers to educate students, and then it impacts everyone else in the system. Nurses are the backbone of the field. You need them for everything.” As affordability of the program decreases, so too will students entering into this field, which compromises the future of healthcare.
“I think it’s kind of insulting,” fellow senior and Nurse Aid student Abbie Kolesar agreed. “Nurses honestly have more patient interactions than doctors.” There are a limited number of doctors already in rotation, and nurses are the ones who sacrifice their own health to make sure that patients are cared for. They do the work to keep people comfortable and to give the doctors what they need. Thinking back to COVID-19 pandemic, nurses were the people who kept patients alive and going. Without them, thousands more would have died, and it seems as though our nation has forgotten their importance very quickly. Not to mention, the nursing workforce is a female-dominated field, which seems to be a favorite style of target of our current administration.
Many people believe that this decision doesn’t affect them, but it does. Most of the nursing workforce doesn’t require these doctorate degrees—but the teachers whose license nurses learn under do need them. Therefore, as less people will be able to afford these programs, there will be fewer people who become teachers. Without these Nurse Practitioners, they will be harder to come across. That means a limited staff to teach new nurses, and a limited number of people who can help in an already understaffed workforce.
Likewise, at this time, NBC news reports that physician retirement rates are at an all-time high, and there is already a shortage in around 35 specialties, which include primary care, OB/GYN, pediatrics, and more. With a smaller percentage of Nurse Practitioners, or Physician’s Assistants, their rates will become higher, they will become harder to acquire, and it will become harder and more costly for a person to get good healthcare.
National Nurses United President, Mary Turner, said that the Trump administration has proven to be unsupportive of nurses, because if it did, “it would be working to improve working conditions, expanding education opportunities, and ensuring patients can get health care.” Access to healthcare and education shouldn’t be a point of political divide, but instead basic human rights (Insiderhighered)
The act is planning to go into effect in July of 2026, but as of now, there are many statements and public outcry for the decision to be changed.
