FNA News | Health & Policy
Donald Trump under Fire over Bill Classifying Nursing as Not a Professional Degree
21 November 2025
FNA Health Desk – Reporting from Lagos,Nigeria
Nursing leaders in the United States have launched a fierce attack on the Trump administration after the Department of Education ruled that nursing is no longer a “professional degree”. The decision, which comes into force on 1 July 2026, will slash the amount of federal loans nursing students can borrow – at a time when America already faces a severe shortage of nurses.
What has changed?
Under the new rules introduced through President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act:
- Students studying medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, optometry, podiatry, chiropractic, theology and clinical psychology can still borrow up to $200,000 in federal loans.
- Nursing students – like those in teaching, social work and physiotherapy – are now limited to $100,000.
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A typical four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) costs between $90,000 and $210,000. Adding a master’s or doctorate to become a nurse practitioner can push the total far beyond the new $100,000 cap.
“This threatens patient care across America”
Dr Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, President of the American Nurses Association (ANA), has this to say :
“Nursing is the backbone of the U.S. healthcare system. We are already short of tens of thousands of nurses. Cutting loan access for the next generation is not just unfair – it is dangerous for patients.”
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) added:
“Nursing meets every single requirement for a professional degree: years of university study, national licensure exams, and direct responsibility for human lives. To exclude us while including theology is indefensible.”
Mary Turner, President of National Nurses United, the largest nurses’ union in the U.S., was even blunter:
“This administration just handed $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to the richest Americans. Now they are telling nurses – mostly women – that their education is not worth funding.”
Government pushes back
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education defended the decision:
“Nursing has never been part of the legal definition of a professional degree for student-aid purposes. This rule simply follows decades of existing practice.”
The department officials have dismissed the outcry as “resistance to ending unlimited taxpayer-funded tuition”.
Why this matters to African nurses
The United States employs more internationally educated nurses than any other country. Every year, thousands of highly skilled nurses from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe and beyond migrate to fill American vacancies.
If fewer Americans can afford nursing school, hospitals will hunt even harder for talent overseas. That could mean:
- Higher salaries and faster visas for African nurses who choose to leave
- Even greater brain drain from already understaffed African hospitals
- Long-term weakening of healthcare on both continents
As one Ghanaian-American nurse Priscilla Osei, now practising in Chicago, posted on social media:
“They say nursing isn’t professional enough for big loans, yet they beg us from Africa to come save their patients. Make it make sense.”
What happens next?
The rule is open for public comment until early 2026. Nursing organisations have launched petitions and are lobbying Congress for an urgent reversal.
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