Nursing no longer a professional degree? Change of many female-dominated fields impacts student loans

People who want to start a variety of healthcare careers may find it challenging to pursue their education due to a recent federal change.

Several positions, including nursing, were reclassified from a “professional degree” to a “graduate degree” under President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” That means borrowing caps – the maximum amount of money you can borrow – for federal student loans are lower than fields in “professional” programs.

Under President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” students in “professional” programs can borrow up to $50,000 a year, and $200,000 in total. All other graduate programs can borrow less than half of that figure, $20,500 per year and $100,000 overall.

The Department of Education recognizes medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology and clinical psychology as professional. Nursing, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical therapists and audiologists were removed from the list.

All the fields that were removed were majority female, according to the data, with percentages varying from 65% (physical therapists) to 88% (nurses) of women.

Several nursing organizations are speaking out against the policy. They warn that this move could worsen the already dire nursing shortage.

Leaders from the American Nurses Association said removing federal funding could potentially make nursing school more expensive for students.

“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,” the American Nurses Association President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy said in a statement. “In many communities across the country, particularly in rural and underserved areas, advanced practice registered nurses ensure access to essential, high-quality care that would otherwise be unavailable. We urge the Department of Education to recognize nursing as the essential profession it is and ensure access to loan programs that make advanced nursing education possible.”

The policy begins on Jul 1, 2026.