Federal Policy Update: Proposed DOE Rule Could Limit NP Student Loan Limits

ARNPs United is aware of the U.S. Department of Education’s (the Department) recent exclusion of advanced practice nursing programs, and other key health professions, from the Department’s definition of professional degree programs. We believe that this proposed rule would have asignificant, negative impact on the future NP workforce as well as on equitable access of patients to essential healthcare services provided by NPs. For this reason, ARNPs United strongly disagrees with the proposed rule as it is currently written.

The proposed framework, which comes out of the Department’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee, describes a professional degree as a degree that:

“(i) Signifies both completion of the academic requirements for beginning practice in a given profession and a level of professional skill beyond that normally required for a bachelor's degree:

(ii) Is generally at the doctoral level, and that requires at least six academic years of postsecondary education coursework for completion, including at least two years of post-baccalaureate level coursework:

(iii) Generally requires professional licensure to begin practice; and

(iv) Includes a four-digit program CIP code, as assigned by the institution or determined by the Secretary, in the same intermediate group as the fields listed in paragraph (2) (i) of this definition.”

If adopted, this will substantially limit loan access for students in post-baccalaureate nursing programs, including MSN, DNP, and research PhD degrees. This, coupled with the Department’s decision to eliminate the Grad PLUS program, will negatively impact students’ options in financing these degree programs.

This jeopardizes the long-term future of our field and practice.

While this proposal exists at the federal level and ARNPs United is a state-level professional organization, the downstream effects of this will have direct impact at the state level. ARNPs United is closely monitoring this issue and will be working alongside national nursing organizations to ensure that advanced practice nursing is fully recognized as a professional field in federal policy.

We will provide actionable steps for member engagement once the official public comment period opens and the formal rule language is published. Note that this window of public comment will likely be very short, so we ask that you stay closely engaged.

For now, please know that we are committed to protecting access to NP education and the future of our profession.