Government’s proposed change in ‘professional’ could limit opportunities for vital fields

The word “professional” has different meanings. If you perform a task with no compensation, you’re an amateur; if you’re paid, the act is professional. Typically, “professional” also referred to careers for which an additional degree is needed and a higher standard of skill and quality is achieved. Finally, the traditional perspective is a professional can hang a sign in a workplace – a doctor’s office, law firm, Certified Public Accountant service – and transact business. (If course, physicians, attorneys and accountants working for a company and paid wages can unionize, too.)

For some people seeking to learn post-graduate skills, “professional” also has meant eligibility for some government loans.

Now, however, the U.S. Department of Education is trying to carve out some post-graduates in certain careers to limit government assistance many need to continue their training. That could make it more difficult to pursue those career goals unless their families are wealthy, they get a significant scholarships to defray the costs, or they borrow financial aid from private (and more expensive) lenders, increasing debt burdens.

The change, drafted last month, is supposedly part of an overhaul of the federal student loan system, but it could severely curtail entry into affected careers, especially those in disadvantaged circumstances. Under the new arrangement, a Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) would replace the current Grad PLUS program, which was set up to help graduate and professional students cover educational expenses, and Parent PLUS loans for parents of dependent undergraduate students, will be limited. So students learning for some degrees may no longer receive the financial assistance or reimbursement for their costs. There are a number of what many see as "professional" degrees missing from the new list. (See below for who’s “demoted” from professional status, and who’s not.)

Critics of the scheme say the proposal is wrongheaded, and it does seem ridiculous – so ridiculous that The Onion satirical news site published a story headlined “White House reclassifies nursing as hobby,” and noting the practice as a “fun little side project.”

Indeed, if enacted, RAP will see annual loans for new borrowers capped for graduate students at less than half what still-“professional” students can get. Therefore, those working on costly degrees, who may no longer receive the same amount since their degrees may not be "professional," could financially struggle to cover the costs, and that could deter students from choosing to pursue those high-demand careers.

Peter Lake, a law professor and director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy at Stenson Law in Florida, told Newsweek, “There are a variety of what I have come to know as ‘learned professions’ under other legal standards that the current administration does not consider to be professions for extended loan opportunities, notably a variety in the health-care field such as nursing.

“A learned profession features specialized higher education training and skills, licensure requirements and accelerated accountability by the profession itself and/or legal consequences for malpractice under professional standards of care. The federal administration in my view should track more commonly held views of what qualifies as a profession under the law."

Affected would be advanced practice nurses and other specialties with substantially more training, such as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, Doctors of Nursing Practices (DNPs) or Nurse Practitioners.

Amy McGrath, a Marine combat pilot running as a Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky, wrote,: "Can someone explain how a theologian is considered more ‘professional’ than a nurse practitioner? As part of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ the Department of Education just proposed a reclassification of a ‘professional degree,’ and it means fewer students will qualify for the higher loan limits they need for grad school.

“Programs being excluded include many fields dominated by women like health care, counseling, and social work. This isn’t a coincidence,” she continued. “This is a way to quietly push women out of professional careers. Limiting who can pursue advanced degrees in critical professions will only deepen the workforce shortages we’re already facing.”

The Department of Education’s Office of Communications and Outreach issued a statement saying, “President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill placed common-sense limits on federal student loans for graduate degrees.”

The Education Department claims it’s not disparaging particular careers, but just limiting what can be borrowed in affected fields.

The Department of Education added that it “has not published a proposed or final rule defining professional student yet. The Department is required to publish the agreed-upon language in its proposed rule. But the Department has not prejudged the rulemaking process and may make changes in response to public comments.”

For now, concerns include failing to lower the costs of masters, doctoral or other advanced degrees, according to Inside Higher Education, which said, “It will force more students – particularly low-income, first-generation students,  and students of color – to depend on the private loan market.”

The consequence of discouraging the pursuit of careers, some of which already have staffing shortages worry schools and the medical community because this could reduce the number of nurses across the country if fewer students enter the profession over financial concerns. (Already, the American Nurses Association is petitioning the Education Dept. to reconsider the change.)

“The recent decision by President Trump and his administration to no longer classify nursing as a ‘professional degree’ is so deeply troubling,” said John Hoffman, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor State Senator in Minnesota. “Stripping that designation is not just a technical change — it diminishes the expertise nurses bring to their work and threatens the support and resources future nurses need to advance their education.

“Let me be clear: no federal definition can erase the reality of what nurses do,” continued Hoffman, who last month had follow-up surgery on his abdomen for wounds suffered in a June assassination attempt.

“Nursing is — and has always been — a professional degree. A pride degree,”: he added. “It’s built on rigorous education, advanced skill, and the courage to face life-and-death situations every single day. To suggest otherwise is insulting to the men and women who hold lives in their hands.”

The proposal is expected to be formally posted on the Federal Register of pending government changes next month, presumably when public comments can be made, with a possible implementation in July.

 

Which professions are in – and out, under Dept. of Education plan

IN

Pharmacy

Dentistry doctorate

Veterinary medicine

Chiropractic

Law

Medicine

Optometry

Osteopathic medicine

Podiatry

Theology

Clinical psychology =

 

 

OUT

Nursing

Physician Assistants

Physical Therapists

Audiologists

Public Health

Architecture

Accounting

Social Work

Educators

Comments from the opposition

The proposed change to exclude some fields from professional status as far as limiting eligibility for government loans for advanced degrees has created a united front of critics, from students and workers, to medical figures and patients, to institutions and politicians.

 

“Nurse practitioners (NPs) currently provide much-needed primary care, particularly in rural and underserved areas. If this rule went into effect, it could have a major impact on nurses’ access to graduate nursing programs. In addition, this proposed rule change would make it more difficult to find nursing faculty with advanced degrees to teach in nursing programs. Shutting down nurses’ access to resources to seek higher education will only further contribute to forces driving nurses away from the bedside.

-- National Nurses United, the country’s largest union of registered nurses,

 

“The Department of Education’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education Committee reached preliminary consensus on a proposed definition of ‘professional degree programs’ under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. We are deeply concerned and profoundly disappointed that the proposal excludes public-health programs as well as several other health professions. This exclusion sends an alarming signal about the understanding of the public-health workforce and risks undermining the nation’s ability to prepare practitioners who protect and promote the health of all populations.”

-- Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health

 

“When the government suddenly decides this work is ‘not professional,’ we need to call it what it is: not clerical, not bureaucratic, not neutral -- but a deliberate devaluation of the labor women provide every single day. They’ve taken a step that exposes the strategy completely: stripping entire women-led professions of their status as professional – professions that keep families upright, keep children safe, keep elders cared for, and keep schools functioning.”

-- photographer, artist and Substack writer Kelli Klymenko

 

“This is not an accident. It is part retaliation against a profession that stood up to Trump’s COVID disinformation, and part cynical cost-cutting in a system that already squeezes caregivers to the breaking point.”

-- Brett Meiselas, co-founder of MeidasTouch, a “pro-democracy” online network

 

“Despite broad recognition of the complexity, rigor and necessity of post-baccalaureate nursing education, the Department’s proposal defines professional programs so narrowly that nursing, the nation’s largest health-care profession, remains excluded. Should this proposal be finalized, the impact on our already-challenged nursing workforce would be devastating.”

-- The American Association of Colleges of Nursing

 

“There is no question nurses represent a professional specialty.”

-- Dr. Von Gupta, public-health physician, pulmonologist and commentator

 

“Reclassifying nursing, public health, social work, PA, OT, counseling, and other life-saving professions as anything less than ‘professional’ is an attack on our health-care workforce and the communities we serve. It will choke off the pipeline of future clinicians, weaken patient care, and punish those who choose service over profit.”

-- Dr. Saud Anwat, a physician and Connecticut State Senator