ANA grassroots advocacy manager Katherine Rowe

Few moments in recent history demonstrate the power of nurses as clearly as the fight over the definition of “professional” degree programs. Hundreds of thousands of nurses spoke out against the Department of Education’s proposed definition, loud enough for the issue to gain traction across social media channels and make an impact on Capitol Hill.

How Did We Get There?

We’ve known that the Department of Education (ED) was preparing to scale back support for unsubsidized federal graduate loans; last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) tasked the ED to do so. The question was how. That’s why the American Nurses Association (ANA) pushed for nursing representation on the ED’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee and collaborated with partners on strong coalition letters when our calls for including the nurse voice went unheeded.

Despite these efforts, the RISE committee failed to recognize post-baccalaureate nursing programs’ strength and rigor, excluding them from the definition of “professional” degree programs.

Why does this matter? OBBBA eliminated the Grad PLUS Loans program while the RISE committee’s recommendations established two levels of federal student loan limits:

  1. Graduate caps: $20,500 annual / $100,000 total
  2. “Professional” caps: $50,000 annual / $200,000 total

In addition to devaluing nursing, this means post-baccalaureate nursing students would only be eligible for half the amount of federal loans as students in “professional” degree programs.

Programs included in the list of ‘professional’ degrees:

    • Pharmacy
    • Dentistry
    • Veterinary Medicine
    • Chiropractic
    • Law
    • Clinical Psychology
    • Medicine
    • Optometry
    • Osteopathic Medicine
    • Podiatry
    • Theology

Nurses are the backbone of health care in the United States, and the country is already facing nursing as well as faculty shortages. Additionally, post-baccalaureate nursing programs meet the definition as defined by OBBBA and the purpose of “professional” degree programs—to prepare students with the education necessary for professional practice.

Nurses Mobilize

The response was powerful, sparking the strongest wave of grassroots advocacy from nurses that we’ve seen since the personal protective equipment shortages of the pandemic.

Nurses wasted no time in making their voices heard. In a matter of weeks, they gathered over 245,000 petition signatures and sent nearly 18,000 emails to congressional offices through ANA’s grassroots platform alone. Social media was ablaze with folks sharing the importance and technical expertise of their work.

And the nation took notice, with enough public engagement that the ED issued a fact sheet in response to the backlash. Congress even got involved, with members of Congress highlighting nurses’ voices on the House floor, posting on social media, and over 140 members signing onto a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter.

The momentum didn’t stop there. When the Department of Education issued its proposed rule in January, opening the public comment period, nurses were ready to advocate for the profession once again by submitting personalized comment letters.

ANA provided template language and grassroots campaigns for individual nurses as well as a more in-depth comment letter for our organizational affiliates and constituent/state nurses associations.

Our comments focused on how:

      • Post-baccalaureate nursing degrees meet the statutory definition of “professional” degrees.
      • There is a critical need for advanced practice registered nurses and nurse faculty.
      • This decision runs counter to other policy priorities.

What’s Next

The public comment period closed on March 2, and the Department now must review and carefully consider the over 75,000 comments submitted before it issues its final rule. For reference, the most comments ANA staff have seen recently on a proposed regulation were a few thousand on a significant Medicaid financing proposed rule.

ANA and its partners will monitor ED closely for publication of the final rule to see how and if any of the comments received had an impact on the final regulation. The new limits will be in effect beginning July 1, 2026, so we expect the final rule sometime before then. How ED decides to finalize this rulemaking will influence what additional advocacy on this critical issue is needed. ANA stands ready to keep this issue at the forefront until post-baccalaureate nursing programs are rightly seen as professional degree programs.

Getting Involved

Writing regulatory comments is one of the simplest and most direct ways someone can influence federal policymaking. Ensure you’ll be ready for the next regulatory advocacy opportunity, read ANA’s Capitol Beat article, “Regulation 101: How Nurses Can Shape Policy.”

Authors:

Zina Gontscharow, MPP, joined the American Nurses Association (ANA) Policy & Government Affairs team in September 2020 and currently serves as director, policy and regulatory advocacy. In this role, she leads a team dedicated to elevating the nursing profession, with a primary focus on federal regulatory advocacy. Zina is a recognized subject matter expert in public payer financing and innovation, health equity, maternal health, staffing, and the broader policy impacts on nurses and health systems.

As grassroots advocacy manager, Katherine Rowe (pictured above, at start of post) leads ANA’s efforts to activate and empower nurses on key legislative and regulatory issues. She brings a strong background in public service and community engagement, having worked on a congressional campaign in both field and operations roles and served as a district representative in local government. Katherine holds a BA in political science and earned her master’s in engaged and public humanities from Georgetown University.