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How do other federal agencies and major universities define 'professional degree' in relation to nursing programs?
Executive summary
Federal reporting in late November 2025 shows the U.S. Department of Education implementing a working definition of “professional degree” that excludes many health and allied programs — notably nursing (MSN, DNP), physician assistant, physical therapy and others — and that exclusion changes which students are eligible for higher federal graduate loan limits (e.g., the previous $200,000 cap for some “professional” programs versus lower caps for other graduate students) [1] [2] [3]. Nursing organizations including the American Nurses Association and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing publicly oppose the change and warn it will reduce graduate loan access and could worsen workforce shortages [4] [2].
1. What the Department of Education is saying: a narrower, precedent-based definition
The Education Department says it is returning to a long-standing regulatory definition of “professional degree” (34 CFR 668.2) and that, under its negotiated-rulemaking work to implement the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), some programs historically treated as “professional” will not be listed among the examples the agency is using — including nursing — meaning those programs won’t qualify for the higher borrowing treatment the administration reserves for professional degrees [5] [3] [1].
2. Which programs are explicitly affected in reporting and lists
Multiple news outlets and fact-checking reporting list nursing (MSN, DNP), education master’s (teaching), social work (MSW/DSW), public health (MPH/DrPH), physician assistant, occupational therapy, physical therapy, audiology, speech-language pathology and various counseling degrees as among the credentials the Department said it would no longer classify as “professional degree” programs under its current interpretation [1] [3] [6].
3. Why the change matters for student loans and limits
Under the OBBBA implementation described in coverage, only students in programs the Department counts as “professional” will be eligible for the higher lifetime or aggregate federal graduate loan allowances (reports cite a $200,000 threshold tied to professional programs versus $100,000 for other graduate borrowers in media coverage), and elimination of Grad PLUS also factors into tighter graduate borrowing options [6] [7] [8].
4. Higher-education and nursing groups push back — workforce framing
National nursing groups (American Nurses Association, AACN, state associations like WSNA) have issued statements urging the Department to revise the definition to include nursing; they frame the change as a threat to graduate nursing education affordability and to the nurse workforce — especially in rural and underserved communities — and warn it may reduce the supply of advanced practice nurses needed for access to care [4] [2] [9].
5. Independent and fact-check reporting: scope and verification
Fact-checkers and syntheses (e.g., Snopes coverage) confirm that the Department announced it would no longer classify a range of graduate credentials as professional degrees under its late‑2025 implementation and note the Department is leaning on the 1965 regulatory text while applying a narrower contemporary interpretation; Snopes and others also list the same set of programs said to be affected [1]. Local and national outlets replicate that list and add reporting on student and university concern [7] [10].
6. Where major universities fit in — what reporting shows (and doesn’t)
Available sources show universities and their students reacting — for example, UW–Madison students and University of Wisconsin officials voiced concern about reduced borrowing power for nursing graduate students and possible impacts on staffing — but the sources provided do not contain a comprehensive compilation of how “major universities” formally define “professional degree” in their own catalogs or policy language for nursing programs; available sources do not mention a standardized university-side definition across institutions [7] [11].
7. Conflicting perspectives and implicit agendas to note
The Department frames the move as aligning with a historical regulatory text and a budgetary/legal implementation of OBBBA, while nursing and higher‑ed advocates frame it as a policy choice that risks workforce harm; news outlets vary in emphasis — some stress legal/regulatory precedent [5] [3], others amplify nursing organizations’ warnings about access and shortages [4] [2]. Stakeholders opposing the change have clear interests in protecting loan eligibility for their fields; the Department’s interest is presented as constraining federal borrowing and adhering to statutory changes [5] [3].
8. Practical takeaways and limitations of current reporting
If you are evaluating program classification or advising students: current reporting establishes that the Department’s implementation will reduce which nursing and allied programs qualify as “professional” for loan purposes and that multiple nursing organizations oppose it [1] [4]. However, the provided sources do not include the Department’s full negotiated-rulemaking text, final regulatory language, or a consolidated list of every university’s internal definitions — so for precise institutional policy or an authoritative legal reading, the negotiated-rulemaking documents and institution-level catalogs would be needed [3] [1].
If you want, I can pull the Department of Education negotiated-rulemaking notice and sample institutional catalog language (if you provide them), or summarize how specific universities (e.g., Harvard, UCLA, Johns Hopkins) define professional degrees for their nursing tracks — those university definitions are not included in the material you've given.