The new proposal is set to take effect in July 2026.
AUSTIN, Texas — Changes could impact graduate students seeking advanced degrees in nursing and other fields after the Trump administration proposed modifications to federal student loan access.
The U.S. Department of Education announced it will exclude nursing as a “professional degree” as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Students will be capped at $20,500 annually with a lifetime limit of $100,000.
The news has led to outrage and confusion over what impacts graduate students will face.
Texas Nurses Association CEO Dr. Serena Bumpus said while nursing hasn’t fallen under a “professional degree” since the term was established in the 1960s, nursing isn’t what it used to be.
“There weren’t a lot of opportunities for nurses to go back to school at the graduate level and receive a graduate degree. So at that time, those definitions made sense,” she said. “We’ve always considered ourselves a profession. Nursing has definitely evolved over the years and we have really set a name for ourselves as a professional group of individuals.”
This week, the Education Department explained its definition of “professional degrees” with a news release titled Myth vs. Fact. The department said the term is used to “distinguish among programs that qualify for higher loan limits,” and stated it “has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not.”
The department added that 95% of nursing students won’t be affected by the new caps.
The U.S., including Texas. is facing a nursing shortage. According to the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies, the state is projected to face a shortage of Registered Nurses, Certified Nurse Midwives and Licensed Vocational Nurses by 2036.
Bumpus said the concern with the new proposal is students questioning whether they can continue their education with the capped loans.
Those include students seeking professions as Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists and administrative roles.
Bumpus added that some graduate degrees alone are more than $100,000 and it’s not feasible for some. It also leaves a gap on current positions that will need to be filled as many reach the end of their career.
“They’re all entering into retirement age; many of our deans are over 70 years old, and it limits our ability to have succession planning,” said Bumpus. “What it also limits is our ability to now train the next generation of nurses.”
The American Nurses Association started a petition asking the Department of Education to include nursing as a “professional degree.”
The Education Department will allow the public to weigh in before anything is finalized.