Maryland nurses concerned about shortages with reclassifying of profession, loan access limited
Paying for grad school could soon be far more difficult for students going into nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy and dental hygiene.
Those are just a few of the careers notably left off a list of "professional degrees" set by the U.S. Department of Education that will see a cap on student loans.
The Department of Education says the list is "not a value judgement about the importance of programs. It has no bearing on whether a program is professional in nature or not," but rather aims to "put significant downward pressure on the cost of tuition."
They say 95% of nurses borrow less than the loan cap allows.
What does it mean?
Previously, students could borrow the cost of attendance, but beginning in July of 2026, students who are in programs on the list of "professional degrees" will be allowed to borrow $50,000 per year, with a $200,000 lifetime cap.
Non-professional degrees are limited to $100,000.
"How can they say that this is not a profession, when to become a nurse practitioner or any of these advanced practice nurses, you need many more years of education, you need clinical hours, and so forth?" said Dr. Lou Bartolo, who is the president of the Maryland Nurses Association.
Threatening nursing shortages
Bartolo says it's not only insulting but will contribute to the growing nurse shortage in Maryland and across the country.
"We know that people are retiring from the baby boomer age and so forth, right now," Bartolo said. "We know people after the pandemic have retired, and we haven't recovered from those numbers, basically, of all those retirements and people leaving the field of nursing."
The concerns are echoed by Yolanda Ogbolu, the Dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing, who says that by 2035, Maryland will only have 80% of nurses needed to serve the population.
Ogbolo is concerned that this decision will deter students in the future.
"Almost everybody will come into contact with a nurse in their lifetime, right? Whether it's at the birth of your baby, or your grandbaby, or at the time of death, when somebody is there holding the hand of a loved one," Ogbolu said. "So ensuring that nurses have full access to education is critically important."
Impact on the future
Joel Clark, a student in nursing school, says he's concerned about how this could affect the future of his career.
"My father was actually hospitalized about four years ago. He went into septic shock. Eventually, he lost his leg. It was really nurses that kind of stepped in, that really cared for him, and really showed me the type of profession that I wanted," Clark said. "Although scholarships exist, and other ways of funding exist, I don't know how feasible it will be, really, with, you know, private loans and taking that out."
