Was nursing considered a professional degree
Executive summary
The U.S. Department of Education has recently excluded many nursing graduate programs — including the MSN and DNP — from its regulatory list of “professional degrees,” a move that shifts affected nursing students into lower federal loan caps and removes access to the highest annual professional-student borrowing limits [1] [2]. The DOE says it is returning to a narrower, decades-old regulatory definition first set out in 1965 and reached by negotiated rulemaking; nursing groups and professional associations say the change will reduce graduate funding at a time of a national nursing shortage [3] [4].
1. What changed: a technical redefinition with big financial effects
The Department of Education finalized rules tied to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that narrow which graduate programs count as “professional degrees” for Title IV borrowing limits; under the new framework advanced nursing degrees such as the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) were placed outside the professional-degree category and therefore face lower loan caps and the loss of Grad PLUS-style borrowing [2] [1]. The DOE says its language reflects a historical regulatory definition from 1965 and the result of negotiated rulemaking that included public input [3] [5].
2. Why nursing’s status is contested: law, precedent and interpretation
The heart of the dispute is interpretation. The 1965 regulatory text that the DOE cites listed certain professions but used language that was not exhaustive; critics say nursing has in practice been treated as professional for policy and funding purposes even if it was not explicitly named in older rule text [6] [7]. The DOE counters it is simply applying a consistent, consensus-based definition that aligned with the negotiated committee’s unanimous language [8] [3].
3. Who stands to lose — and who makes that argument
Nursing organizations including the American Nurses Association and academic nursing groups warn that excluding advanced nursing degrees from the professional category will limit access to graduate funding, increase costs for nurse practitioners and other advanced clinicians, and hamper pipeline growth amid an already strained workforce [4] [9]. News coverage and advocacy outlets emphasize that advanced nursing students will face higher out-of-pocket burdens when Grad PLUS and higher annual loan amounts are no longer available to them [1] [10].
4. The Department’s defense and procedural cover
The Education Department frames the decision as procedural rather than a value judgment — an application of an older, stricter definition and the outcome of a negotiated rulemaking process that included stakeholders and unanimous committee language [3] [5]. The agency’s press office has characterized reporting that frames the change as arbitrary or newly invented as misleading, arguing the agency has maintained a consistent definition for decades [8] [6].
5. Broader list of programs affected — not just nursing
This is not a nursing-only action. The DOE’s interpretation removed other health and human-service programs from the professional-degree list — including physician assistants, physical therapists, some public-health and social-work degrees — shifting many post-baccalaureate clinical programs into the graduate category with lower borrowing caps [11] [2]. Reporting and fact-checking outlets flagged the broad scope of fields impacted by the reclassification [11].
6. Stakes and numbers: loan caps and timelines
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill framework, students in qualifying “professional degree” programs are eligible for higher annual borrowing limits (reported as up to $50,000 annually and higher lifetime caps under program rules), while programs reclassified as graduate programs face roughly half those limits — and the Grad PLUS program is being eliminated under the law — with the changes taking effect for federal aid beginning July 1, 2026 [1] [9] [4].
7. What advocates are doing and what’s next
Nursing groups have mounted public pressure campaigns, petitions, and calls for reconsideration; some organizations argue the DOE’s interpretation risks exacerbating shortages and undermining workforce planning [12] [4]. The department says its rule followed negotiated rulemaking procedures and public comment; whether Congress, courts, or further rulemaking will alter the outcome is not reported in the current sources [3] [5]. Available sources do not mention any successful legal challenges or congressional reversals to date.
8. Bottom line for the original question — “Was nursing considered a professional degree?”
Historically and in practice many policymakers and professional groups treated advanced nursing degrees as professional programs for funding and workforce policy, but the specific 1965 regulatory list did not explicitly name nursing and the DOE’s current rulemaking has now excluded certain advanced nursing degrees from its formal regulatory category of “professional degree” for the purpose of federal loan limits [7] [6] [1]. That contradiction between historical practice and narrow regulatory interpretation is the source of the current controversy [5] [10].
Limitations: reporting in the available sources focuses on DOE rule language, reactions from nursing groups, and loan-policy mechanics; available sources do not mention subsequent litigation outcomes or any final congressional fixes beyond the published rulemaking and its implementation schedule [3] [9].