This change means that nurses, physical therapists, and physician assistants will have limited access to student loans.
The Trump administration is no longer considering professional nursing degrees as it begins to overhaul student loans in its One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
This means it could become more difficult to get financial aid to complete advanced degrees in nursing and other health care professions at a time when Wisconsin is facing a funding shortage.
Under the U.S. Department of Education’s new definition of professional programs, nursing, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, physical therapy, and audiology programs are now excluded and must comply with new borrowing limits.
Under the new guidelines, students in programs designated as “professional,” including doctors, dentists, and lawyers, can borrow up to $50,000 annually, or a total of $200,000.
All other graduate students can borrow up to $20,500 annually, or a total of $100,000.
The plan also eliminates the Grad Plus program, which allowed graduate students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance. And in a statement, the Education Department said the changes “place common sense limits and railings on future student loan borrowing and simplify the federal student loan repayment system.”
According to several nursing groups, the rule change could have far-reaching consequences for nurses seeking advanced practice roles, leadership positions, or other graduate-level jobs that are critical to the health care workforce nationwide.
Jennifer Mencik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, said limiting access to funding for graduate education jeopardizes the foundation of patient care.
“In many communities across the country, especially in rural and underserved areas, advanced practice registered nurses ensure access to essential, high-quality care that would otherwise be unavailable,” Kennedy said in a statement.
Kim Litvek, dean of the College of Health Professions and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said nearly all graduate students rely on federal financial aid, as they are cutting back on full-time jobs to return to school.
“(Physician assistants) and nurse practitioners are providing a lot of health care in this country,” Litvek said. “And if that financial support goes away, I think we have some serious threats to primary care and service delivery.”
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development predicts that the state will have a shortage of 12,000 to 19,000 nurses by 2040.
Dr. Carol Sebel is the chair of the School of Nursing at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The school offers a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a degree in mental health for nurse practitioners.
She says Wisconsin not only has a shortage of nurses but also a shortage of primary care physicians.
“Nurse practitioners work in pediatrics, they work in mental health, they work in so many roles,” Sebel said. “Now we’re reducing the number of students who have access to education because we’re reducing the amount of student loans available.”
Sebel said an advanced degree in health care takes about 40-45 credits, and students pay per credit. Costs vary by institution, but she said almost every student needs federal financial aid.
Recognizing that Wisconsin faces a shortage of health care providers, the state legislature began adding $5 million to the Higher Education Assistance Board for a nurse educator program in the two-year budget starting in 2022-23.
Students who earn a master’s or doctorate in nursing from the University of Wisconsin will have their loans forgiven if they agree to teach nursing for three years.
Litvak says the program has helped, but the cuts to federal financial aid could still have serious consequences.
“It’s a little scary,” Litvek said. “I hope it was a mistake, not intentional.”
