Grad School Reclassification Shakes Students, Higher-ed Locally and Nationally
Reclassification affects federal dollars for students seeking certain degrees, including nursing, architecture, and social work. Is it an attack on programs or high tuition?
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Early in November, the U.S. Department of Education convened a rulemaking committee to define what degrees should be deemed “professional.” Under the committee’s proposed guidelines, a number of programs traditionally categorized as “professional” degrees will no longer carry that designation. The affected programs, according to Newsweek include:
Nursing
Physician assistants
Physical therapists
Audiologists
Architects
Accountants
Educators
Social workers
This announcement has set off concerns across the academic community, because under the recently passed so-called Big Beautiful Bill, non-professional degrees will face new caps on the amount of money that can be borrowed to pursue those degrees.
Less Money for Non-Professional Graduate Degrees
The bill will end some loan programs, like the GRAD Plus Program, and replace it with the Replacement Assistance Program, or “RAP,” that caps annual loans for new borrowers at $20,500 for graduate students and $50,000 for professional students.
The law also places lifetime caps on graduate borrowing at $100,000 for graduate students and $200,000 for students enrolled in recognized professional programs.
For programs such as nursing, those new caps could make it more challenging for students to pursue their degrees.
At Virginia Commonwealth University, for example, the “[Master of Science in Nursing, or MSN] degree has an in-state annual tuition of $13,404 and an out-of-state annual tuition of $27,550. The doctoral program (DNP)’s in-state annual tuition is $11,050 and out-of-state annual tuition is $23,583,” according to Research.com.
At George Mason University, the tuition for an MSN is “(online) $20,400 (both in-state and out-of-state).”
Those figures are exclusive of fees, housing costs, food costs, books, and travel. Those costs can effectively double the cost of education. So while an in-state student can borrow enough to cover tuition at VCU, they could struggle to cover additional costs. A nursing student at GMU could borrow enough for tuition, but no more.
Dr. Shashuna Gray, vice president for academic affairs and workforce development at Germanna Community College, said that currently “there’s a lot of uncertainty” around the proposal. However, “removing that professional tag limits the access students have to those [advanced] degrees.”
She stressed that this potential change comes at a time when Virginia is in the midst of a teaching and nursing shortage. Limiting students’ ability to pursue these advanced degrees in teaching and nursing “may skew people from pursuing those degrees.”
This would also make it more challenging, she said, to recruit and train faculty and staff at the K-12 level.
The Advance reached out to the University of Mary Washington for a comment on potential impacts to students. Amy Jesse, executive director of university communications, said: “We have … questions on the possible impacts for our students in future years and on our community, particularly with the needs of the region. As we seek further implementation guidance, we’ll share updates with our current students and provide clarification as available.”
Sen. Tim Kaine told the Advance by email that “… we all stand to lose from this decision President Trump and congressional Republicans made to make it harder for students to pay for the training they need to fill those jobs. I’m particularly concerned by the impact this move will have on nursing programs; I’ve heard from many Virginia health care providers about shortages of nurses and physicians, and this will only make it harder to grow the health workforce we need.”
He continued: “Add this to the list—along with slashing nutrition assistance for hungry families and cutting resources rural hospitals needed to stay open—of the things Republicans were willing to do in order to fund massive tax giveaways for billionaires.”
More Approvals to Go
Removing the “professional” tag from degrees in nursing, education, and other disciplines is not yet a done deal.
Preston Cooper is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and he told the Advance via email that “the next steps are to issue a proposed regulation (likely early next year). There will then be a 30-day public comment period, and the Department may revise the regulation in response to public comments.”
The new loan limits, however, will come online for new graduate students in the upcoming 2026-27 academic year. “Current graduate students will be grandfathered in (they will have access to the old loan limits while they complete their studies),” according to Cooper.
As the cuts in funding go through, Cooper will be watching to see if tuition begins to decline. That’s precisely what happened at the Santa Clara University School of Law, which is lowering tuition in response to the new law.
“Starting next fall,” Cooper wrote in a paper for AEI, “Santa Clara Law will provide a guaranteed $16,000 tuition scholarship to all incoming full-time J.D. students…. The school’s rationale for its new scholarship is notable: Santa Clara says that the initiative is ‘designed to offset the impact of the recent repeal of the Graduate Plus federal-loan program, which is effective July 1, 2026.’”
For now, students in fields like nursing and education who are planning to begin their programs in the fall will be watching to see if their degree programs are removed from the list of professional degrees.
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This OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act -July 2025) attack on federal student loan programs is part of Project 2025. Will it lower college tuition as Preston Cooper, American Enterprise Institute, is monitoring? or will it force students to take on high-interest private loans in the venture capitalist/private equity industry to line the pockets of his buddies?
Some question if this is just one more Heritage Foundation assault on the pink-collar work force.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association/ASHA is advocating for the profession. It states that: 'OBBBA did not define "professional degree." Instead, it referred to an existing regulatory definition that lists several health professions as EXAMPLES and some law and theology programs. These examples did not include audiology or speech-language pathology/SLPs.
Next step for the professions, including educators, nurses, therapists (Occupational, Physical Therapists), the SLPs and audiologists is to Take Action. To make sure they ARE included in the Final rule.
The federal Ed Dept/ED is expected to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in January. This will initiate a 30-day public comment period. During this comment period:
ASHA will submit comments explaining why audiology and speech-language pathology degrees are closely aligned with programs included by the committee, currently as the Examples, making the case that these degrees warrant higher loan limits.
ASHA members will have the opportunity to provide comments on this proposed regulation.
Public input will be critical. Following the comment period, ED may publish a final rule as written, revise the definition, or make updates and issue a new proposed rule for public comment.