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Did the Trump administration alter federal occupational codes for nurses in the FES or CPS data?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration moved in November 2025 to redefine which programs count as “professional degrees,” and that nursing (including many graduate nursing credentials) was explicitly excluded from that list as part of implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and related loan-rule changes (multiple outlets reporting) [1] [2] [3]. The coverage ties this redefinition to changes in graduate borrowing (elimination/capping of Grad PLUS and lifetime caps), and nursing groups have loudly criticized the policy as likely to reduce access to graduate nursing education [1] [3] [4].
1. What reporters say happened: an administrative redefinition, not a simple coding tweak
Multiple outlets report that the Department of Education adopted a new definition of “professional degree” under the administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act implementation, and that nursing and several other fields were dropped from that professional-degree list—meaning different loan limits apply to those programs going forward [2] [3] [5]. Fact‑checking and mainstream coverage describe this as a policy redefinition linked to student‑loan program changes rather than an opaque technical recoding hidden in survey files [1] [2].
2. How this is being connected to borrowing limits and Grad PLUS changes
Reporting ties the reclassification directly to loan-policy changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: the elimination or curtailment of the Grad PLUS program and the imposition of lifetime caps on borrowing for many graduate programs [1] [4]. News accounts and sector outlets emphasize that excluding nursing from the “professional” list subjects those degrees to new borrowing limits and could raise net costs for graduate nursing students [2] [3].
3. Which occupations and credentials were named
News outlets list a set of fields removed from the Department of Education’s updated “professional degree” framing, including nursing (MSN, DNP, nurse practitioner tracks), physician assistant, physical therapy, audiology, education/teaching master’s degrees, social work (MSW/DSW), public health (MPH/DrPH), occupational therapy, speech‑language pathology and counseling/therapy degrees, and several non‑health fields such as accounting and architecture in some reports [1] [6] [5].
4. Did the change affect FES or CPS occupational codes specifically? What the sources do and do not say
The available reporting describes a change in the Department of Education’s regulatory definition of “professional degree” and related student‑loan rules; none of the provided sources mention alterations to federal occupational coding systems such as the Census Bureau’s Full‑Time Equivalent (FES) or Current Population Survey (CPS) occupation codes or survey coding manuals (available sources do not mention changes to FES/CPS occupational codes) [1] [2]. In short, coverage documents a definitional and loan‑policy change at the Education Department, not that the administration reclassified nursing in household‑survey occupational coding files—those specifics are not found in current reporting [1] [2].
5. Reactions from nursing organizations and advocacy groups
Nursing organizations including the American Nurses Association and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing are described as “deeply concerned,” arguing the move will limit access to advanced nursing education and harm the health‑care workforce; petitions and public statements urging reversal are reported [3] [5]. These stakeholders frame the change as a policy choice that undermines workforce development; proponents of the administration’s loan reforms emphasize fiscal limits on graduate borrowing—both perspectives appear in the coverage [1] [4].
6. Misinformation risks and fact‑checking context
Fact‑checking coverage (Snopes and major outlets) flagged viral social posts and headlines that sometimes conflated different elements—e.g., the rule change, elimination of Grad PLUS, and effects on specific credentials—so readers should distinguish (a) the Department of Education’s definitional/loan‑policy action (well reported) from (b) claims that an unrelated federal statistical program quietly changed occupational codes (not reported in the sources) [1]. When social posts simplify complex regulatory changes, they risk leaving the false impression that longstanding occupational survey coding systems were altered; current reporting does not support that narrower claim [1].
7. What to watch next and where the gaps are
Reporting documents the redefinition and its linkage to loan caps, but does not provide detailed administrative text showing every code or survey affected nor cite changes to labor‑market data sets such as the CPS/FES occupational classifications [1] [2]. To confirm any effect on federal occupational datasets you would need direct documentation from the Census Bureau or Bureau of Labor Statistics or the Education Department’s technical rule text; those documents are not present in the current reporting set (available sources do not mention those documents) [1] [2].
Bottom line: contemporary reporting shows the Education Department reclassified which graduate programs count as “professional degrees” under Trump administration rulemaking tied to student‑loan changes—and nursing was explicitly excluded—while the articles and fact‑checks provided do not document any simultaneous change to FES or CPS occupational coding systems [1] [2] [3].