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Were nursing occupations reclassified under any federal guidance or O*NET updates during Trump's presidency?
Executive summary
Federal reporting in late 2025 shows the U.S. Department of Education moved to exclude many graduate programs — including nursing (MSN, DNP and related advanced-practice programs) — from a regulatory list used to determine higher borrower limits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; nursing groups say this will reduce access to Grad PLUS–level borrowing and lower caps for affected students (examples: ANA statement, People, USA Today) [1] [2] [3]. ONET material in the provided results shows no parallel federal “reclassification” of nursing occupations on the ONET site in this reporting; O*NET continues to list and update nursing occupations [4] [5] [6].
1. What changed at the Department of Education — and why it matters
In November 2025 the Department of Education implemented loan-eligibility rules tied to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that remove many graduate health and allied programs, explicitly listing nursing degrees (MSN, DNP and advanced practice), from the agency’s operational list of “professional degree” programs used for higher federal borrowing limits; nursing organizations immediately warned this would limit access to Grad PLUS loans and cap borrowing for affected students [1] [2] [7]. Media descriptions and nursing groups say the practical effect is to push graduate nursing students into standard graduate borrower status with lower annual and aggregate loan limits and the elimination of some Grad PLUS eligibility [2] [7].
2. Conflicting framings and agency clarification
Reporting includes differing framings: outlets and nursing advocates frame the move as a new “reclassification” or an exclusion that converts nursing from a “professional degree” to a non‑professional status; the Department of Education responded that the federal regulatory definition in place historically did not explicitly include nursing, and agency spokespeople said the rule did not “update” a definition to exclude nursing because that list never named nursing in the 1965 regulation [3] [8]. Fact-checking outlets noted proposals and agency actions that affect program lists, and cautioned that some social-media claims overstated the change as a finalized re‑labeling when procedures (rulemaking, guidance) were ongoing in late 2025 [9].
3. What O*NET shows (and what it does not)
The ONET Resource Center and ONET OnLine entries in the provided materials show standard occupation maintenance and updates — e.g., ONET’s data update pages and current entries for Registered Nurses — but the search results do not show any federal guidance from ONET that “reclassifies” nursing occupations in the same way the Department of Education changed loan-eligibility lists [4] [5] [6]. Available ONET pages referenced here show occupation listings and code updates (for example, updated occupation codes), not policy actions changing educational status for loan programs [5] [6].
**4. Where reporting and advocacy intersect — and possible agendas**
Nursing associations such as the American Nurses Association publicly criticized the Department of Education action as jeopardizing workforce pipelines and patient care — messaging that reflects an institutional interest in preserving funding pathways and workforce capacity [1] [7]. News outlets and local stations amplified those concerns; simultaneously, the Education Department’s clarification that nursing was not explicitly in the 1965 regulatory examples shifts the debate toward whether the new law’s practical effects are intended, incidental, or the result of broader budget-driven loan-limit changes [3] [8]. Advocacy groups press for rule changes to restore higher borrower limits for nursing, which is consistent with their mission to protect professional education and workforce supply [1].
**5. Bottom line and limits of available reporting**
Available sources show a clear federal policy action in late 2025 affecting whether nursing programs are treated as “professional degree” programs for federal student-loan limits, and widespread reporting and pushback by nursing groups and local media [2] [1] [10]. However, the provided ONET materials do not indicate an ONET-driven reclassification of nursing occupations — ONET remains an occupation database that lists and periodically updates job codes and descriptions, not federal student-loan program eligibility [4] [5]. If you want an authoritative crosswalk: consult the Department of Education rule text and ONET’s update logs directly; those primary documents are not included in the results above and are thus “not found in current reporting” here [4].
Sources cited: Department of Education / news coverage of One Big Beautiful Bill Act loan changes and nursing reactions (People, USA Today, ANA statements) [2] [3] [1]; ONET data/update pages and occupation entries [4] [5] [6]; fact-checking and explanatory reporting noting nuance about proposal vs. final action [9].