JOURNAL ARTICLE

This Week's Advocacy News: 'Nursing Is Not Considered a Professional Degree Under Student Loan Changes'.

  • Published In: ONS Voice, 2025. P. N.PAG 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Becze, Elisa 3 of 3

Abstract

The article focuses on the exclusion of nursing degrees from the U.S. Department of Education's definition of professional degree programs under the RISE Committee's interpretation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This exclusion limits postbaccalaureate nursing students to borrowing only half the federal loan amounts available to other professional students, potentially worsening the nursing shortage by reducing enrollment. The Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) and the Nursing Community Coalition have actively advocated for recognizing nursing programs as professional degrees, citing workforce projections that highlight the critical need for advanced practice registered nurses. Although the RISE Committee has concluded negotiations, a proposed rule has not been released, prompting calls for nurse advocacy to influence lawmakers to include nursing in the professional degree definition.

Additional Information

  • Source:ONS Voice. 2025/12, pN.PAG
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Education
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:2475-6938
  • Accession Number:190224054
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of ONS Voice is the property of Oncology Nursing Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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