Starting in 2026, the Department of Education will make changes to what qualifies as a professional degree. Nursing is no longer on the list, decreasing the amount of federal loans students can receive.

Willa Prescott with the Nebraska Hospital Association said the change won't just affect universities, but the hospital system as a whole. 

"It feels a little bit like a slap in the face," Prescott said.

The change means federal borrowing limits for nursing students are going down. Professional degrees can receive $50,000 per year, up to $200,000 in total.

"It lowers [non-professional degrees] to $20,500 per year and a $100,000 cap. That's a big deal because an advanced degree for a nurse, think maybe a CRNA, is $170,000," Prescott said.

Nebraska is a state already experiencing a nursing shortage.

"Nine counties don't have a registered nurse at all," Prescott said.

Veronice Thompson, a nursing instructor at the College of Saint Mary, said nursing programs need to be accessible.

"If we start at the top and we cap access financially to graduate programs, then we limit the number of qualified nurse educators that we have, we limit the number of nurse researchers that we have, we limit the number of nurse practitioners that can care of our patients," Thompson said.

This loan change has greater impacts for advanced degrees like clinical nurse specialists or nurse practitioners. Those are roles Thompson said her students want but now are worried they won't get.

"They do have some concerns about their ability to obtain education, whether they can afford that degree, if the loan cap will make it so they can't finish their degree," Thompson said.

Because it will affect more advanced degrees, consequences may take some time, but Prescott said they are coming.

"Impacts may not be noticeable today or tomorrow, but they're going to be felt for years, maybe decades into the future," Prescott said.

Prescott urged people to call their representatives and stand up for Nebraska's nurses.

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