A “Slap in the Face” as Essential Graduate Degrees No Longer Qualify for Standard Federal Loans

Staff move in equipment to occupy EU’s Health Sciences Building during final stages of construction on Aug. 7. With the declaration of nursing degrees as “unprofessional,” EU students may have to look to private lenders instead of federal student aid for these degree programs. (Ian Murphy)

With the implementation of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” the Trump administration set new federal loan limits for graduate students pursuing both ‘professional’ and ‘non-professional’ degrees.

Graduate students studying ‘professional’ degrees can borrow up to $50,000 annually and $200,000 in total through federal loans. Conversely, those pursuing’ non-professional’ degrees are limited to $20,500 per year and $100,000 overall.

“It’s a new way to create more barriers to an already difficult-to-access profession, and a severely understaffed one at that,” argued Junior Elmhurst University nursing major Emma Rodgers.

The 1965 federal law defines a ‘professional’ degree as a program requiring a license to practice and education beyond a bachelor’s degree.

EU senior Ella Enders was immediately concerned upon hearing about the federal loan caps. Loans are her main source of funding for her upcoming four-year audiology graduate program.

“Most programs cost around $120,000 total for all four years, which equals about $30,000 per year,” Enders explained. “If I cannot borrow more than $20,500, I truly don’t know where I will find the extra $10,000.”

This reduction in federal funding is prompting students nationwide to turn to alternative loans, which often carry higher interest rates and stricter repayment and application requirements.

Enders is among those affected. “Now I am limited in how much I can borrow for living expenses because I will have to rely on those alternative loans to cover tuition.”

This isn’t an individual issue, as Rodgers is in a similar situation. “If I decided to move further on with my education, which you’re pretty much expected to in nursing, I would have no other option than to take out alternative loans or maybe be lucky enough to find a hospital that would help support the continuing education.”

The Trump administration released a list of degrees classified as ‘non-professional, ‘ including nurses, accountants, educators, social workers, audiologists, architects, and physical therapists.

Screenshots of this list are circulating online, as professionals in these fields criticize the administration’s classification.

Since 1965, the list of ‘professional’ degrees has existed, but recent updates and distributions have sparked controversy due to backlash against labeling some degrees as ‘unprofessional.’

Rodgers, whose field of nursing is often female-dominated, views this classification as an outright dismissal of essential work.

“I think no longer classifying nursing as a professional degree, along with most other female-led degrees, is an absolute disrespectful slap in the face by our government and our leaders,” argues Rogers.

During the global pandemic, nurses were considered the heroes of the world; there is a clear change in perspective now that the pandemic has passed.

Rogers noted this change. She said, “the complete 180 switch in healthcare workers over the last few years has been disappointing. We were considered the heroes of the country five years ago, and are now being told the blood, sweat, and tears that we’ve spent essentially mean nothing to those in leadership and the public.”

“This hurts,” Enders said. “By the time I finish graduate school, I will have earned both a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate. I will have spent eight years in school, yet I am still not considered a professional.”

Audiology is a vital field, as many people need support with hearing loss. The implication that Enders’s work isn’t professional diminishes the importance of her future work.

The “Big Beautiful Bill” has been anything but beautiful as it forces thousands of future critical workers, like Enders and Rodgers, to choose between riskier private loans and reducing their education.

For students in this situation, it isn’t the sting of reducing loan funding that is hurting the most, but rather the government’s implication that their years of schooling and essential community work are not valuable enough to warrant additional federal support.