LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Graduate nursing programs are no longer considered professional degrees by the U.S. Department of Education.
This change follows the implementation of President Donald Trump’s federal spending bill, or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Without the professional degree classification, nursing students no longer have access to federal loans for graduate programs. The change has raised concerns among Kentucky nurses about worsening the state’s existing healthcare workforce shortage.
Kentucky faces nursing shortage crisis
According to the National Institutes of Health, the United States is facing a shortage in the nursing workforce, including in Kentucky.
The Kentucky Nurses Association reports that 107 out of the 120 counties in the Commonwealth are considered health professional shortage areas. KNA’s Ethics and Human Rights Committee Co-Chair Joy Coles, DNP, APRN, AGACNP-BC, FHFSA, believes the reclassification will worsen the shortage.
“Without nurses having the ability to expand their training as professionals to provide care for patients, we fear that the deep canyon that already exists will only widen,” Coles said.
Nurse practitioners serve as the highest level of healthcare providers in 46 counties, according to the Kentucky Board of Nursing. Coles said that with less qualified nurses, it will be the patients who will suffer.
When you access care in the hospital, you want to feel confident that the professional caring for your wounds is a professional, that they’ve been educated. Without that, where will our healthcare system be?” said Coles.
Personal impact on healthcare workers
Coles completed her initial graduate training in nursing at the University of Kentucky with the help of federal loans. She wants to expand her license by completing her post-graduate nursing training to focus on family practice in rural Kentucky. She said she is working extra hours to make ends meet while considering her educational plans.
“How does one afford to go back and pay for an advanced degree without funding?” Coles said.
Industry response
The American Nurses Association and its state affiliates, like the KNA, are asking their members to contact legislators to encourage the revision of the “professional degree definition to include nursing again. The organization states that nurses make up the largest segment of the healthcare workforce.
“In many communities across the country, particularly in rural and underserved areas, advanced practice registered nurses ensure access to essential, high-quality care that would otherwise be unavailable,” said Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president of the American Nurses Association. “We urge the Department of Education to recognize nursing as the essential profession it is and ensure access to loan programs that make advanced nursing education possible.”
Kennedy said the U.S. Department of Education’s decision limits the ability to strengthen and expand the nursing workforce.
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