Nursing is no longer considered a professional degree

And? the definition of a professional degree is something that leads to a doctoral-level program. Under the new definition, programs in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, optometry, law, veterinary medicine, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, chiropractic, theology, and clinical psychology are considered professional.

I believe the logic is you can't work as a doctor with only a bachelor's degree, which is why the cap is higher... or a lawyer... or a clinical psychologist... however, you can be a nurse with a bachelor's degree. Yes, the nurse's union is crying foul (because the change affects their members), and I don't blame them for standing up for their members, but let's be real: how many other "professionals" are ineligible for the professional student loan cap? Are paramedic degrees considered professional degrees? What about IT degrees? Or business? or engineering? or clinical engineering? or accounting? what about education? hey @MMiz, are teachers professionals, and is an education degree professional?

BTW, the department said "These measures were brought in with the intention of creating a "new and simplified" Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)—whereby annual loans for new borrowers were capped at $20,500 for graduate students and $50,000 for professional students" which means associates, bachelors & masters programs were NEVER intended to be included in the program, and the "professional" description was for students in programs that exceeded graduate programs. This is much ado about nothing

you can be a nurse with an Associates Degree (ASN) or even a certificate (LPN)

Chiropractors and Theology degrees are professional but nursing is not? Despite the DNP, DNAP and PhD tracks?

That's ****ing ********.

Pharmacy used to be bachelors, then masters, only becoming PharmD in 2000.
Clinical Psychology does not necessarily require a PsyD to practice. You can practice with a MS in many states.
Law is a "doctorate" that takes 3 years.

johnrsemt said:

you can be a nurse with an Associates Degree (ASN) or even a certificate (LPN)

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LPN is not a RN anymore than a CNA is a RN anymore than a EMT is a Medic anymore than a Medic is a Doctor.

This is how you get a nursing shortage that will be solved by importing more H1B visa nurses.

Lord not again.

Take a breath, this whole thing has become rage bait

1. No one is saying nurses aren't professionals, this whole idea was poorly inferred and has been pushed aggressively by the ANA because they want to stay relevant.
2. This only relates to the amount of money you can obtain from FAFSA loans for an MSN or DNP and has nothing to do with obtaining an ADN or BSN. It also doesn't mean you can't take out extra from a private loan to cover any cost differences. People usually consolidate their loans to a private loan post-graduation anyway.
3. This decision caps a student at $100k in federal loans for their MSN/DNP. If you're spending more than $100k for an MSN/DNP program, you should probably take another look at your program. If you do that and still think that college is worth their obscene tuition then you're going to have to cough up some money or earn some scholarships. As an example, my MSN program will cost about $39k and that number is fairly standard for respected programs. Honeslty, all in, from nothing to ADN to BSN and once I complete my MSN, I'll be at around $50k total. The for-profit degree mills can suck it.

Yes, this only deals with FAFSA student loan caps. Other organizations besides the ANA are blowing this up beyond what it truly is.

Thanks for the Cliffs Notes...I had not yet looked into this, however all my colleagues are WAY over the top with the drama.

Personally I think the entire federal student loan system should be scrapped, but that isn't going to happen and the entire higher ed system is built around it. With that being the reality, the idea of arbitrarily classifying degree programs as "professional" or not and basing their student loan limits on that label is absurd.

Borrowing limits probably make good sense but they should be based on earning potential.

Should we want English majors going $200k in debt to taxpayers for a career where they'll be lucky to find a job that pays well enough for them to pay back the loan? I don't think so. But to put, for instance, CRNAs in that same category is pretty silly considering most anesthesia programs will cost you well over $100k yet many new CRNAs pay off their loans within a few years of graduation.

Carlos Danger said:

Personally I think the entire federal student loan system should be scrapped, but that isn't going to happen and the entire higher ed system is built around it. With that being the reality, the idea of arbitrarily classifying degree programs as "professional" or not and basing their student loan limits on that label is absurd.

Borrowing limits probably make good sense but they should be based on earning potential.

Should we want English majors going $200k in debt to taxpayers for a career where they'll be lucky to find a job that pays well enough for them to pay back the loan? I don't think so. But to put, for instance, CRNAs in that same category is pretty silly considering most anesthesia programs will cost you well over $100k yet many new CRNAs pay off their loans within a few years of graduation.

Click to expand...

If we really want to rage about anything, it should be the unchecked exponential increases in college tuition over the last 30 years coupled with the immense pressure put on high school students to attend college after graduation. It's a f*cking racket and no one wants to touch it.