Why advanced nursing degrees just got more expensive

This video is uploaded from Frame.io.

Transcript

00:00There's major outrage in the nursing world right now, and it's all because of a new rule under

00:04President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which reclassifies nursing as not a professional

00:09degree. That may sound like a minor technical issue, but for nursing students, especially those

00:14pursuing advanced practice degrees, it's huge. As the Department of Education rolls out Trump's bill,

00:21it created a list of which graduate programs count as, quote, professional degrees. And here's who

00:26made the cut. Medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, law, veterinary medicine, and theology. But nursing,

00:32nurse practitioners, and physical assistants are excluded. And that matters because only

00:37professional degree students qualify for the highest federal loan amounts. Everyone else,

00:42including nurses, get capped far lower. Graduate nursing programs are expensive, often compared

00:48to medical or pharmacy school. But under the new rules, nurses lose access to the higher federal

00:53loan amounts of $50,000. And because the bill eliminates Grad Plus loans, many students will

00:59have no way to becoming a nurse practitioner or nurse educator. In short, becoming an advanced

01:04practice nurse just got harder, pricier, and for some, impossible. What's funny is I thought that I was

01:10about to go to school to be a nurse practitioner, but I don't think so at this point because they said

01:14nursing is no longer considered a professional degree. Online, the nursing community is starting

01:20to speak out. Creator Wicago's world is going viral after sharing her take on the reclassification.

01:26I'm a new grad resident. Had a dream that I was going to be a nurse practitioner. But guess what? In

01:322026, they said that they're cutting the funding. Y'all not getting no more loans, baby. She breaks

01:37down what this change means for the future financial responsibilities placed on nursing students.

01:42To get a master's degree in nursing and science, to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner,

01:46$60,000. They're only going to give us $20,000 a year. Y'all do the math.

01:52Ann shares her thoughts on the reasoning behind the reclassification.

01:56They don't want us to continue our education. They want us to stay exactly where we at.

02:00They want the women to be barefoot and pregnant because nursing is primarily dominated by women.

02:04Her video has already racked up more than 300 comments, with one comment asking what happens if all

02:09the nurses leave. And another replied by sharing an article about six AI nurse robots being tested

02:15in hospitals, hinting at fears that nurses could eventually be replaced rather than supported.

02:20And because 87 to 89 percent of registered nurses are women, Sandra sees this move as an attack on

02:26women and wrote, these are the people who keep our loved ones alive. If that's not a professional,

02:31I don't know what is. Another commenter pointed out the irony that nurses were just recently labeled

02:36essential heroes during the pandemic and now feel dismissed only a few years later.

02:41And official groups like the American Nurse Association says this decision insults the

02:45profession, which requires rigorous education, licensing, and direct patient care. They also

02:51believe it threatens patient access, especially in rural and underserved communities. One nursing

02:56leader even called the move a gut punch that could derail the pipeline of future nurses.

03:00And that's because the U.S. is already short tens of thousands of nurses. And if those advanced

03:04programs become financially out of reach, we'll see fewer future nurse practitioners,

03:08fewer nurse educators, and fewer RNs moving up the ladder, all of which could deepen the national

03:13nursing shortage. But the education department has dismissed the concerns as fake news, saying

03:19nursing programs had enjoyed a quote unlimited tuition ride on the taxpayer dime. Share your thoughts

03:24and follow us everywhere at What's Trending.