![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Janet-Coffman-portrait-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA proposal from the U.S. Department of Education deems teachers, nurses, behavioral health therapists, and several other careers as no longer \u201cprofessional.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we make it harder for people to finance their education, that just adds to the disincentive. \u201cThat\u2019s counter to where we are both with needing providers, particularly in the Valley and other more agricultural, rural areas of the state.\u201d \u2014 Janet Coffman, professor of health policy, UC San Francisco <\/p>\n
The rule, begat from President Donald Trump\u2019s Big Beautiful Bill, separates those vocations from doctors, veterinarians, pharmacists, lawyers, theologians, and psychologists, which would\u00a0 maintain their status.<\/p>\n
If approved by the U.S. Department of Education, the rule reduces how much students can borrow from the federal government to $100,000 total or $20,000 annually. Those who retain their professional status have their loans capped at $50,000 a year or $200,000 total.<\/p>\n
The public will have a chance to comment on the proposal before a final decision is made.<\/p>\n
While masters and doctorate nursing programs typically fall below the proposed cost threshold, Janet Coffman, professor of health policy at UC San Francisco, says differentiating the nursing profession comes at a time when society needs those specialties to fill gaps in medical care more than ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we make it harder for people to finance their education, that just adds to the disincentive,\u201d Coffman said. \u201cThat\u2019s counter to where we are both with needing providers, particularly in the Valley and other more agricultural, rural areas of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nursing Doctors Train Next Generation<\/p>\n
The Department of Education claims that 95% of post-graduate nursing students borrow below the $100,000 loan limit.<\/p>\n
A masters of nursing degree at Fresno State costs about $5,000 a semester, according to Kathleen Rindahl, chair of the nursing school at the university. At four semesters and about $20,000 total, it should fall well below the $20,000 annual cap and $100,000 total cap.<\/p>\n
The doctor of nursing degree, a DNP, costs about $9,500 a semester. At five semesters, it costs about $50,000.<\/p>\n
Nationally, the cost for a masters lands at about $47,000, according to a 2022 article from Nursa<\/a>, a health care staffing platform. A doctorate, however, averages about $184,000.<\/p>\n It\u2019s those with doctorates who can train the next generation of nurses, Rindahl said. Nurses with doctorates already don\u2019t get paid more than those with masters degrees. Limiting loan amounts further discourages getting doctorates, potentially squeezing the number of teaching nurses.<\/p>\n Students who may want to pursue the degree will have to turn to private lenders, which can cost much more, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are trying to grow our own nurses to be professors at universities so we can continue to grow new nurses because there\u2019s a huge nursing shortage as we all know,\u201d Rindahl said.<\/p>\n Teachers also get the reduced loan cap. But Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Michele Cantwell-Copher said it shouldn\u2019t negatively impact teachers as local programs also fall below that cap.<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognize how important affordable pathways are for future educators; however, based on what we know today, we don\u2019t expect this to affect most new teachers in the Central Valley, as our regional preparation programs typically fall well below those limits,\u201d Cantwell-Copher said in an email to GV Wire.<\/p>\n Studies Show Correlation Between Loan Amounts, Tuition Costs<\/p>\n The education department says that 80% of the nursing workforce does not have a graduate degree.<\/p>\n \u201cSince 2007, graduate and professional students have been able to borrow up to the full cost of attendance. This has allowed colleges and universities to dramatically increase tuition rates, even for credentials with modest earnings potential, which has saddled too many borrowers with debts they find difficult to repay.\u201d \u2014 U.S. Department of Education<\/p>\n In a response to media claims and objections by teaching and nursing associations, the department says the \u201cprofessional\u201d<\/a> designation is only an internal definition used to distinguish who qualifies for higher loan amounts.<\/p>\n By lowering the cap, the department says it can bring down tuition costs.<\/p>\n \u201cSince 2007, graduate and professional students have been able to borrow up to the full cost of attendance,\u201d the department said in an FAQ memo. \u201cThis has allowed colleges and universities to dramatically increase tuition rates, even for credentials with modest earnings potential, which has saddled too many borrowers with debts they find difficult to repay.\u201d<\/p>\n