bipartisan push – Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley and Republican Sen. Roger Wicker unveiled a bipartisan bill that would expand the Department of Education’s “professional” degree list to include advanced nursing degrees, aiming to counter President Donald Trump’s new student-loan
The fight over student loans is reaching hospital beds.
On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley and Republican Sen. Roger Wicker led a bipartisan bill that would add nursing degrees to the Department of Education’s professional degree designation. The push is aimed squarely at President Donald Trump’s new borrowing limits. which take effect July 1 and set a $100. 000 lifetime limit for graduate students and a $200. 000 limit for professional students.
Those limits matter because nursing degrees have been treated differently than other “professional” programs. The Department of Education’s list of programs that meet the definition of “professional” includes medicine. law. and dentistry. but excludes advanced nursing degrees. That exclusion alarmed borrowers. advocates. and lawmakers across party lines. who argued that nursing tuition can exceed the cap and could leave students unable to attend. The new bill would add advanced nursing programs to the department’s list.
“Nurses save lives, one bedside at a time. We should be doing everything we can to make it easier to recruit the next generation of these heroes. not make it harder. ” Merkley said in a statement. “Republicans and Democrats alike have sounded the alarm over changes that make student loans for nurses more expensive. which threaten the future of the nursing workforce.”.
A bipartisan companion bill was also introduced in the House.
Last week, during a House hearing, Education Sec. Linda McMahon said nurses “are incredibly respected” and that most would not be affected by the borrowing caps. “We looked very, very carefully at the entire nursing profession. 95% of the nurses that are in programs do not exceed these caps. 78% of the nurses that are moving for graduate programs do not exceed or come up to these caps,” McMahon said. “We were very carefully looking at the cost of these programs across the country. There are outliers.”.
Lawmakers have acknowledged the numbers dispute, but the concern doesn’t rest only on percentages. They point to the pipeline of specialized nursing training that may become more expensive under the new definitions. Most students in post-graduate nursing programs. according to an analysis of Education Department data from the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute. borrow within the new caps: in 115 out of 140 advanced nursing programs. students borrowed less than $100. 000.
Even so, lawmakers and advocates argue the caps could worsen a broader healthcare worker shortage.
In December, a bipartisan group of more than 140 lawmakers urged the department to revise its professional degree definition. They referred to the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist program. which can cost over $200. 000. and said that the proposed $100. 000 cap is “restricting the pipeline of CRNAs and further limiting an anesthesia workforce that is suffering from shortages across all provider types.”.
The pressure didn’t start in December. During the rule’s public comment period in February, thousands of people pushed to change the definition of a professional degree.
One commenter warned: “Policies that make graduate nursing education less affordable will not only discourage nurses from advancing their education but will also reduce the number of nurse educators available to train the next generation of nurses. ” adding that “Fewer educators mean fewer nursing school slots and longer delays in bringing new nurses into the workforce. and ultimately compromising care.”.
For now. the key question is whether the department’s professional-degree list will change before the July 1 start date—because the difference between being treated like a “professional” program and being excluded from that category could determine whether advanced nursing students can afford to enroll at all.
student loans nursing degrees Department of Education borrowing limits Jeff Merkley Roger Wicker Linda McMahon Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist CRNA healthcare workforce shortage American Enterprise Institute