Trump's plan to limit student loans for nurses is facing bipartisan backlash

"Opposition toward new student-loan limits in President Donald Trump's repayment overhaul is mounting. On Friday, a bipartisan group of over 140 lawmakers sent a letter to Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent urging him to revise the Department of Education's proposal to place new student-loan limits on professional degree programs. The department recently concluded its negotiations on the student-loan payment changes that Trump signed into law in his "big beautiful" spending legislation. The changes included borrowing caps for graduate and professional students: a $100,000 lifetime limit for graduate students, and a $200,000 lifetime limit for professional students."

"The crux of the debate centered on which programs qualify as "professional," and the department identified 10 programs, including medicine, dentistry, and law, that would meet its new definition. Post-graduate nursing programs are not included within the professional definition, and the lawmakers wrote that the omission could exacerbate the ongoing nursing shortage. "Classifying these programs as graduate programs would result in these students having to take out additional student loans to cover the remainder of their tuition, which will limit the ability for students to complete their advanced degree," the letter said."

More than 140 bipartisan lawmakers urged Under Secretary Nicholas Kent to revise a Department of Education proposal that would impose lifetime borrowing caps on graduate and professional students. The proposal sets a $100,000 lifetime limit for graduate students and a $200,000 lifetime limit for professional students. The department identified 10 programs as "professional," including medicine, dentistry, and law, while excluding post-graduate nursing programs. Lawmakers warned that classifying advanced nursing programs as graduate instead of professional would force students to borrow additional funds, limit degree completion, and could exacerbate existing nursing shortages. The Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist program was cited as an example of high tuition costs.

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