It’s Official: Nursing Is Still Not a ‘Professional Degree’ Under the DoED Final Rule

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Today, the U.S. Department of Education officially published its finalized RISE rule (Reimagining and Improving Student Education), implementing the student loan provisions of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. And despite months of organized advocacy, over 245,000 petition signatures, thousands of public comments, and bipartisan Congressional pushback, nursing remains off the list of degree programs that qualify for the higher federal loan limits reserved for “professional” students.

The timing is not lost on anyone in the nursing community. The rule drops on April 30 — the eve of National Nurses Month — a detail the American Nurses Association noted pointedly in its response. In a statement released today, the organization called the decision a profound disappointment.

“It’s ironic that we find ourselves here just one week before National Nurses Week, a time when we are meant to celebrate and honor the very people who keep our health system running,” said ANA President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN. “And yet, this Department of Education has chosen to make it harder for nurses to advance their education and their careers.”

The RISE rule overhauls the entire federal graduate student loan system, beginning July 1, 2026. Here’s what changes:

• Two new repayment plans replace the old system. The Tiered Standard plan offers fixed payments over 10 to 25 years based on balance, while the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) is an income-based option that adjusts monthly payments based on earnings and family size. Critically, the rule confirms that on-time RAP payments count toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness — which matters enormously for nurses in hospital and community health settings.
• Grad PLUS loans are eliminated for new borrowers who don’t qualify for an interim exception, and new annual and lifetime borrowing caps take effect.
• The caps, and the professional degree definition, are the core issue for nursing. Under the final rule, graduate students fall into two tiers:
  • “Professional students” can borrow up to $50,000 annually with an aggregate cap of $200,000
  • All other graduate students, including nurses, are capped at $20,500 annually with an aggregate cap of $100,000

To qualify as a “professional student” under the higher limits, a program must appear on the Department’s explicit list of 11 core fields, or meet a multi-part test requiring a doctoral-level degree in the same CIP code cluster as those fields. That list includes medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, law, veterinary medicine, clinical psychology, and others. Nursing is not on it, and does not qualify under the multi-part test.

The rule even includes a footnote acknowledging that the “professional student” label “does not express a value judgment about the importance of any occupation or field.” Nurses will no doubt find that footnote comforting as they figure out how to finance a DNP.

We’ve been tracking this issue since it first emerged in late 2025. When the Department initially published its proposed rule, we broke down what it meant for nurses: graduate nursing students pursuing NP, CRNA, MSN, and doctoral degrees would face lower annual borrowing limits than students in law, pharmacy, or veterinary medicine — programs the government formally recognizes as “professional.”

The Department tried to walk back some of the outrage in an early fact sheet, arguing the label was purely administrative and that 95% of nursing students already borrow below the new annual cap. Nurses were not especially reassured.

Then came the organizing. The ANA launched a petition calling on the Department to add nursing to the professional degree list. It gathered over 245,000 signatures. 140 bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to the Department urging reconsideration. The ANA formally wrote to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in February, warning that excluding post-baccalaureate nursing programs “fails to recognize the critical and distinct role of advanced practice registered nurses” and could limit the next generation of APRNs’ ability to enter their roles “without adequate federal loan support.”

A Nurse.org poll of 2,312 nurses found that 59% said the proposed changes made them less likely to pursue a graduate degree. The top concern, cited by 43% of respondents, wasn’t even the money — it was the message. Nurses felt the policy signals that advanced nursing education simply isn’t valued.

Thousands of nurses submitted formal comments. The public comment period closed March 2. The Department acknowledged receiving them. And today, the final rule was published anyway basically unchanged.

The ANA’s statement today pulled no punches. The organization said “provisions of the rule severely restrict access to critical loan support for post-baccalaureate nursing education and actively undermine efforts to expand and sustain the nursing workforce. This action by the Department of Education will result in a negative impact on patient care as advanced practice registered nurses are increasingly relied on to provide crucial primary care and other specialty healthcare services.”

ANA President Kennedy emphasized the real-world stakes, noting that the final ruling “will limit baccalaureate-prepared nurses’ ability to pursue advanced degrees, including the Master of Science in Nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice, Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice, and Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing, the very degrees that produce the advanced practice nurses and educators our country so desperately needs.”

Kennedy added: “Make no mistake, this is not a technicality or a footnote. This rule will be felt in real communities, for example, in rural areas where nurse practitioners, midwives, and nurse anesthesiologists are often the only providers of core care services.”

The ANA said it will continue to advocate for nurses’ access to the financial resources needed to pursue advanced degrees, and called on President Trump and Congress to rectify what it described as a misguided approach.

If you’re currently enrolled in a graduate nursing program and already have a loan, an interim exception applies. Under the final rule, students already enrolled in and borrowing for a program before July 1, 2026, can continue under the old (higher) loan limits for up to three years, or until they complete their credential, whichever comes first — provided they remain continuously enrolled.

If you leave your program or take a break, that protection disappears, and the new lower caps kick in.

For new students starting graduate nursing programs on or after July 1, 2026, the $20,500 annual cap and $100,000 aggregate limit are the reality. For reference, many CRNA programs run $100,000 or more in tuition alone over the course of the program, not counting living expenses.

The Department did give institutions new flexibility to set their own lower loan limits per program, which it frames as a tool to reduce overborrowing. Nursing organizations have argued that without competitive loan access, schools simply won’t be incentivized to lower costs — students will just have fewer options to pay.

As we reported earlier this year, the concern here isn’t just financial. Nurses who responded to our poll were most disturbed by what the exclusion symbolizes. Many worried that fewer nurses from underrepresented or economically disadvantaged backgrounds would be able to pursue graduate education, deepening existing disparities in the APRN pipeline.

The U.S. nursing workforce is still recovering from the strain the pandemic placed on it, and the demand for advanced practice nurses has never been higher. Nurse practitioners, CRNAs, nurse midwives, and clinical nurse specialists are often the only providers serving rural and underserved communities. If the financial path to those credentials becomes significantly harder to navigate, the downstream effects on patient access to care will be real.

As Kennedy noted today, the voices of nurses clearly reached the Department’s inbox. Over 245,000 of them sent a direct message. The Department chose to proceed anyway.

The ANA says the fight isn’t over, and that it will continue pushing for legislative and policy solutions to restore equitable loan access for nursing students. In the meantime, if you’re a graduate nursing student or planning to become one, this is the moment to get serious about your financial plan: talk to your program’s financial aid office, explore scholarship options, investigate employer tuition assistance, and look into whether your future employer qualifies for PSLF.

Happy almost-Nurses Month. You deserve better than this.

🤔 Nurses, what do you think about this final “Professional Degree” ruling? Share your thoughts in the discussion forum below.