North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein is urging US Education Secretary Linda McMahon to reverse a federal plan to cap the amount nursing graduate students can borrow for tuition by redefining which graduate programs qualify as “professional degrees.” In a letter issued Tuesday, Stein warned that the change could worsen health care workforce shortages by limiting access to graduate-level nursing education. But supporters of the rule say the new definition is a necessary guardrail against runaway tuition and excessive student debt, arguing that most nursing students would not be affected by the lower borrowing caps.
“North Carolina’s shortage of nursing related professionals is the eighth worst in the United States, and by 2033, our state will require an estimated 17,500 additional nursing professionals to meet the demands of our rapidly growing population,” Stein, who is a Democrat, wrote.
The letter comes as the Department moves to finalize rules from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that will cap federal student loans for advanced degrees a shift that has drawn concern from state officials, educators and health-care stakeholders.
“Gov. Stein is right to be concerned about the lack of nurses in North Carolina, especially in our rural areas. But his criticism misses the mark in several ways,” said Brian Balfour, senior vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation. “The Department of Education’s reclassification of nursing would only apply limits to the amount students enrolling in graduate programs can borrow. Eighty percent of nursing professionals, however, have undergraduate degrees. Furthermore, 95 percent of nursing students borrow below the newly-imposed $100,000 limit. In sum, this rule would impact a small fraction of nursing students. And for those that would be impacted, the borrowing limit would most likely result in graduate nursing programs lowering their cost to adjust to the new limits.”
What the Education Department Says
As laid out in a Nov. 24, 2025 “Myth vs. Fact” sheet, the department says that the new “professional degree” definition is a technical, internal classification used solely to determine eligibility for higher borrowing limits, not a judgment on the value of nursing or other fields.
Under OBBBA, beginning July 2026:
- Students in eligible “professional degree” programs would be able to borrow up to $50,000 per year (maximum $200,000 total).
- Students in other graduate or doctoral programs, including many nursing, public-health, therapy, and social-work fields, would be limited to $20,500 per year (maximum $100,000 total).
The Department contends that 95% of nursing students already borrow below the current limits, meaning they would not be affected by the new caps.
“Stein also claims the new federal borrowing limits would ‘impede’ progress North Carolina has made in trying to increase the nursing workforce. But the programs he cites involve community college programs — which would be unaffected by the Department of Education’s new rules,” Balfour added.
Advocates for the rule, including analysts at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), argue the stricter “professional degree” classification is a critical check against escalating tuition and unsustainable student debt.
In an AEI commentary titled “Beware Graduate Programs Masquerading as ‘Professional’ to Increase Student Debt,” the author warns many graduate programs seek the “professional” label not because of licensure requirements or clinical need, but because it unlocks higher federal loans, fueling a cycle of tuition inflation and borrower debt.
“Limiting the high-borrowing category to historically recognized first-professional degrees (medicine, law, dentistry, etc.) ensures that large federal loans go to programs with strong potential for high-income careers, reducing risk for taxpayers and borrowers alike.”
The American Nursing Association opposes the classification exclusion in a statement issued in November.
“At a time when healthcare in our country faces a historic nurse shortage and rising demands, limiting nurses’ access to funding for graduate education threatens the very foundation of patient care,” said Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president of the American Nurses Association.
The Stakes: The heart of the conflict lies in a trade-off:
McMahon and the Trump administration frame the changes as a fiscal safeguard designed to curb debt-driven tuition inflation and reduce the risk that borrowers take on more debt than their degrees can repay.
Critics, including Stein, warn the policy could make advanced degrees in nursing more expensive on the front end, because students’ borrowing is capped. Stein says it could exacerbate existing shortages particularly in states like North Carolina, where seniors tend to retire and demand for nurses and health care professionals is growing. However, others in North Carolina’s policy space say there are other levers that the state government could use to increase healthcare staffing.
“If Stein was serious about increasing the nursing workforce in North Carolina, he would be throwing his support behind a SAVE Act, which would grant full scope of practice authority to nurse practitioners — who are currently required to sign collaborative agreements with a physician,” said Balfour. “This requirement depresses North Carolina’s nursing population and limits the services nurses can provide, curtailing patients’ access to care. When Arizona granted full practice authority in 2002, they experienced a 73% increase in nurse practitioners serving rural counties in just five years.”
The new classification policy is scheduled to be implemented starting July 1, 2026.