NNU condemns Trump administration loan changes
Nurses decry the exclusion of nurses from graduate professional degree loans
By Chuleenan Svetvilas
National Nurse magazine - Oct | Nov | Dec 2025 Issue
National Nurses United condemns the Trump administration’s proposed rulemaking plan to exclude graduate nursing students from professional loans, which have higher limits than those for other graduate students. This is an outrageous attack on the nursing profession, students, working-class people, and women.
H.R. 1, a Trump and GOP bill passed in July that slashed Medicaid and SNAP benefits to give tax breaks to billionaires, also included changes to student loan programs. This would affect nurses who are pursuing graduate degrees to be nurse practitioners (NPs), certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA), or other positions requiring an advanced degree. They would not be eligible for loans at the higher limits allowed only for the Department of Education’s (DOE) specific list of professions. Graduate students pursuing so-called professional degrees are eligible for more than twice as much funding for each academic year and twice as much total funding than graduate nursing students. It is an insult to nurses, the most trusted profession in the nation.
NPs currently provide much-needed primary care, particularly in rural and underserved areas. If this proposed rule went into effect, it could have a major impact on nurses’ access to graduate nursing programs. In addition, this proposed rule change would make it more difficult to find nursing faculty with advanced degrees to teach in nursing programs.
If the Trump administration truly wanted to support nurses, it would be working to improve working conditions, expand education opportunities, and ensure patients can get health care. Instead, this administration is stripping VA nurses of their union rights, making education harder to access, and cutting health care for those who need it most. H.R. 1 is a cruel piece of legislation that will have disastrous consequences for the most vulnerable in our communities. Millions will lose access to health care. Meanwhile, the rich will get richer.
NNU is also concerned how this could contribute to the nationwide nurse staffing crisis, commonly and mistakenly called a nursing shortage. The hospital industry has created a staffing crisis by refusing to staff hospitals appropriately and creating conditions that are unsafe for patients and nurses. Based on available data from the US BLS on employment and National Council of State Boards of Nursing on licenses, there is reason to believe over a million actively licensed RNs are not working at the bedside.
Shutting down nurses’ access to resources to seek higher education will only further contribute to forces driving nurses away from the bedside. NNU is fighting this proposed rule, so sign up for NNU emails and check our website to learn about how you can object.