The federal government’s move to restrict student loan provisions and take away nursing’s “professional” designation could seriously damage workforce building efforts, nursing leaders say.
“The impact it will have on the ability to staff facilities moving forward is just devastating,” said Susan Davis, senior vice president of asset management for Skokie, IL-based Cascade Capital Group.
The Department of Education last week proposed revised rules for the classification of professional degrees, changes it said are necessary to conform with student loan provisions included in the budget reconciliation bill signed into law July 4.
Individuals in degree programs removed from the list will be ineligible for higher federal loan limits and some loan forgiveness programs. Annual loans for new borrowers will be capped at $20,500 for graduate students with a $100,000 aggregate limit, with $50,000 available annually (and a $200,000 total limit) for students in programs still considered “professional.”
The effect on graduate nursing education could hit training programs and the future workforce hard, warned Davis, a nurse by training who has been chief nursing officer for three national senior care organizations. She’s also a member of the Wilkes University Passan School of Nursing board of trustees, which figures to be hard hit upfront by the new restrictions.
“To cap these loans to people who are willing and able, and want to be nurses … and now they won’t have access to that funding, that is just astounding,” Davis told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Tuesday. “ We struggle now to attract nurses into long-term care for a variety of reasons and this will just make it worse. I haven’t seen anything to justify this, and what’s concerning is it impacts both undergrad and graduate students. We need nurse practitioners desperately.”
More job titles affected
Much has been made in recent years of the use of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in nursing homes, as organizations look to improve care for more clinically complex patients and treat patients in place. They’re also increasingly important in rural facilities, where physicians may be less available.
NPs and PAs aren’t the only LTC-related professions to be culled from the list of professional programs eligible for additional loans. Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology are also being removed, with the Department of Education set to finalize its recommendations in July 2026, after a formal rulemaking and public comment period.
“All of these professions are having workforce issues, and LTC is not always the setting of choice,” said Leigh Ann Frick, president at Care Navigation Consulting. “The earning potential of some of these professions already makes the cost of education difficult to justify, but without the ability to obtain student loans, potential students may choose different majors, and we cannot afford to lose those interested.”
Frick noted that PTs are required to have a doctoral degree, along with some OTs. That means the educational costs will far exceed the $100,000 aggregate cap that is being floated for those careers.
Still, much of the early outrage has been in the nursing community.
The American Nurses Association urged the Department of Education to reconsider its process and protect professional education pathways for nurses, who make up the largest segment of the healthcare workforce.
“At a time when healthcare in our country faces a historic nurse shortage and rising demands, limiting nurses’ access to funding for graduate education threatens the very foundation of patient care,” President Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, said in a statement. “In many communities across the country, particularly in rural and underserved areas, advanced practice registered nurses ensure access to essential, high-quality care that would otherwise be unavailable.”
Pressure to ‘refocus’ or redesign
The ANA reported that there are more than 260,000 students in bachelor of nursing programs across the US; new loan restrictions could conceivably keep many from advancing to the next degree level. The organization launched a petition asking the Department of Education to explicitly include nursing in its professionally designated programs; it had more than 185,000 digital signatures by Tuesday afternoon.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said new borrowing caps and student loan reform should pressure universities to “refocus their operations to deliver high-value credentials and a better return on investment for the next generation of Americans.”
But it’s unclear when or whether key nursing or therapy programs will be able to cut costs enough to help students complete degrees with high-dollar loans, and that worries those watching the long-term care landscape.
“Nurses are the beating heart of long-term care, and advanced practice nurses, like nurse practitioners, are helping to revolutionize our sector,” Dana Ritchie, associate vice president of workforce and constituency services for the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living told McKnight’s last week.
She called the proposal a missed opportunity and said AHCA still hopes to work with Congress on new incentive and loan forgiveness programs.
“When you look at all the statistics AHCA puts out about the aging population and the lack of caregivers now and what’s going to happen, and how many people we’ll be down to provide care … and then put this on top? It’s frightening,” added Davis.
James M. Berklan Kimberly Marselas (2025, November 25). ‘Frightening’ outlook for LTC nursing with ‘professional’ status stripped – https://www.mcknights.com/news/city-to-pay-5-8m-in-class-action-over-elder-abuse-at-laguna-honda
