As federal policymakers prepare to overhaul graduate student loan borrowing caps, a longstanding gap in federal education policy has resurfaced: nursing will no longer be classified as a professional degree under federal law.
Many individuals have been frustrated and confused, believing the federal government recently reclassified nursing as a non-professional degree or is newly excluding nursing students from accessing federal loans. However, the issue stems from a 1965 federal law that defines a professional degree as one “that signifies both completion of the academic requirements for beginning practice in a given profession and a level of professional skill beyond that normally required for a bachelor’s degree.”
The law further lists ten specific examples of professional degrees that policymakers have historically relied on when regulating student loans: Pharmacy, Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, Chiropractic, Law, Medicine, Optometry, Osteopathic Medicine, Podiatry and Theology. The law notes that the list is not exhaustive, but federal policymakers have continued to rely on it, leaving nursing outside the professional degree category.
The omission of nursing from the list of professional degree classifications has drawn heightened public attention due to the changes in graduate loan borrowing that will go into effect beginning July 1, 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Under the new borrowing limits, students enrolled in graduate programs covered by the federal professional degree definition may borrow up to $50,000 annually and up to $200,000 over a lifetime in loans. Students enrolled in other graduate programs, including nursing, would be limited to an annual borrowing limit of $20,500 and lifetime borrowing limit of $100,000 in loans.
Many current and aspiring nursing students, professional nursing associations, nurses and patients have raised concerns about how the reduced borrowing limits may affect the education of nursing students in the nation.
On Nov. 26, 2025, the American Nurses Association issued a statement expressing their concerns that limiting graduate loan borrowing limits could exacerbate pre-existing issues with vacancies of nursing faculty at nursing schools nationwide, threaten the integrity of the nursing profession and create further gaps in patient care access.
As the 2026 date to implement the borrowing limits approaches, advocacy groups and educators nationwide continue to push for the federal government to reconsider its definition of professional degrees and reestablish graduate student borrowing limits.
