Officials warn against limits on loans for nursing students

By Madeline Shannon
The Center Square

Weeks after the federal government lowered the borrowing limit for student loans for graduate degrees in nursing, professionals and elected officials are sounding off on the impact.

U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman, D-Burbank, said the proposed federal rules could affect the number of people who can enter the profession and hurt nursing students in her district.

The rules will make it more difficult to attract nursing students at a time when that’s already a challenge, the California congresswoman told The Center Square in a phone interview Friday. “This is a real insult, because they are re-classifying [nurses] from being a profession. This sends a terrible signal to people who are studying for years to get these degrees so they can serve the public in a medical setting.”

The U.S. Department of Education in November proposed new limits on the amount of money a student can borrow. The department said the new rules will take effect in July if a department committee approves the changes.

The new restrictions include a $200,000 limit for loans to students seeking medical, law and other professional degrees.

Nursing, however, was not included among the professional degrees. Students pursuing a master’s degree or doctorate in nursing will be limited to $100,000 in total borrowing costs, much like students pursuing degrees in liberal arts and other areas not categorized as professional.

The proposed changes also stipulate that graduate students such as those studying nursing can only borrow $20,500 a school year. But professional students going to medical or law school could receive $50,000 a school year.

“This will benefit borrowers who will no longer be pushed into insurmountable debt to finance degrees that do not pay off,” said Nicholas Kent, the U.S. undersecretary of education in a news release issued right after the new rules were formulated.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Education were unavailable for comment on Friday.

National Nurses United, the biggest union of registered nurses in the U.S., condemned the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed changes.

“This is an attack on the nursing profession,” National Nurses United said in a news release. “Shutting down nurses’ access to resources to seek higher education will only further contribute to forces driving nurses away from the bedside.”

According to a poll by nurse.com, 59% of nurses said they would not consider pursuing a graduate degree in the field knowing the proposed rules. Respondents said the policy change signals a negative message about the value of the profession. They added they are worried fewer people will pursue careers in nursing. About 20% said they were concerned about a reduced ability to take out the student loans required to get through nursing school and that they would have a higher personal debt.

Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office project the federal government would save roughly $284 billion over the next eight years by cutting federal student loan borrowing. However, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed in July, the federal budget deficit would swell to $3.4 trillion in those same eight years, the office estimated.

Republicans and Democrats who sit on education and health committees in the California Assembly and Senate were not available for comment on Friday. Officials with the University of California and California State University, which offer nursing degrees, were also unavailable.