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Can nurses still obtain student loans in nursing under new trump bill
Executive summary
The Department of Education under the Trump administration has reclassified nursing so it is no longer treated as a “professional degree,” a change tied to implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA) that imposes new lifetime borrowing caps and eliminates Grad PLUS loans; graduate students face a $100,000 cap while professional students remain at $200,000 (reports tie these rule changes to nursing’s reclassification) [1] [2] [3]. Nursing groups including the American Nurses Association warn this will reduce access to federal graduate loans for advanced nursing programs and could push students toward private loans, though implementation details are still being finalized through Department rulemaking [4] [5] [6].
1. What changed: reclassification and the new loan caps
The Education Department’s new guidance removes nursing from its list of “professional degree” programs as part of OBBBA implementation; that matters because OBBBA establishes different lifetime federal borrowing caps — roughly $100,000 for graduate students and $200,000 for “professional” students — and eliminates the Grad PLUS program that many graduate nursing students used to finance advanced degrees [1] [2] [3].
2. Immediate practical effect for nursing students
Because nursing is being excluded from the “professional degree” category, students pursuing graduate nursing degrees (MSN, DNP, PhD) may be subject to the lower $100,000 aggregate limit and will lose access to Grad PLUS loans after July 1, 2026, when Grad PLUS is slated to end — a change that critics say will make financing advanced nursing education far harder and may force greater reliance on private loans [3] [2] [6].
3. Who’s sounding the alarm — and why
The American Nurses Association publicly expressed concern that excluding nursing from the professional-degree definition will threaten access to advanced nursing education, pointing to impacts in rural and underserved areas where advanced practice registered nurses provide essential care [4]. News outlets and nursing organizations warn the reclassification could “price aspiring nurses out” of graduate training, which some fear will exacerbate existing nursing shortages [1] [3] [7].
4. What the Department of Education is doing next
The Department has announced negotiated rulemaking and a RISE committee to implement OBBBA provisions and will hold public hearings and guidance sessions to finalize how changes will operate in practice; that process means some implementation details and timelines remain subject to rulemaking and further guidance [5]. Federal Student Aid’s public pages and the Department’s negotiated-rulemaking notices are the primary venues for updates [5] (p1_s15 — current reporting cites the announcement but the site is still updating).
5. Alternatives for students: private loans and repayment changes
Coverage notes that without the ability to take more federal loans students may turn to private loans, which can carry higher rates and fewer protections; local reporting emphasizes students and families will face tough choices about affordability and creditworthiness if federal borrowing is constrained [6]. Separately, the administration has negotiated to continue some forgiveness processing for certain borrowers but plans longer-term phaseouts of some IDR plans by 2028, complicating assumptions about future repayment and forgiveness for any new or existing borrowers [8].
6. Competing perspectives and political context
Supporters of OBBBA frame the changes as reining in federal borrowing and reshaping repayment programs; critics — including nursing groups and many journalists — portray the reclassification as an arbitrary cut that disadvantages a critical health-care workforce and could worsen shortages [5] [4] [1]. Some outlets emphasize immediate student impacts, while the Department emphasizes rulemaking and implementation steps, leaving room for legal challenges and advocacy to influence final policy [9] [5].
7. What to watch next (and how to get authoritative answers)
Watch the Department of Education’s negotiated-rulemaking calendar, Federal Student Aid announcements, and statements from the American Nurses Association for binding clarifications and timelines; those venues will contain the finalized eligibility rules, any transition provisions (e.g., for students already enrolled), and precise dates for Grad PLUS elimination and cap enforcement [5] [10] [4]. Also expect coverage of litigation or Congressional actions, which already appears as part of the broader debate over student loan program changes [9].
Limitations and final note: reporting in the cited coverage consistently links nursing’s reclassification to OBBBA’s caps and Grad PLUS elimination and quotes nursing organizations’ concerns, but precise transitional rules, grandfathering for currently enrolled students, and the Department’s final regulatory text are still being worked out through negotiated rulemaking and public guidance [3] [5] [4]. Available sources do not mention any specific grandfathering provisions or finalized eligibility timelines beyond the announced implementation and July 1, 2026, marker for Grad PLUS termination [3] [5].