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The basics:

• Federal loan rules exclude nursing from professional degree status
• Policy limits borrowing for graduate nursing education
• New Jersey faces a projected shortage of 24,450 nurses by 2036
• Author says fewer loans threaten nurse educators and workforce growth

At a time when New Jersey needs more nurses, federal student loan policy is suddenly making it harder to finance their education.

A lot harder.

Under recent actions by the U.S. Department of Education, nursing has not been included on the list of programs classified as “professional degrees” for purposes of determining federal student loan borrowing limits.

While other health care professions, such as medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, remain explicitly recognized as professional degree pathways within this federal loan policy framework, professional nursing has been left out.

And it’s a big deal.

This “professional degree” designation, as defined in federal student loan regulations, determines how much students can borrow to pay for graduate education. By excluding nursing from this classification, the federal government is effectively limiting access to loan funding for nurses pursuing advanced degrees. That includes those preparing to become nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, clinical specialists and, critically, nurse educators.

‘Consequences are real and long-lasting’

These changes may appear administrative, but their consequences are real and long-lasting. They threaten access to graduate education, constrain the preparation of nursing faculty and reduce the number of nurses available to care for patients, all at a time when the state already faces a severe shortage. Projections show New Jersey will face a deficit of about 24,450 registered nurses by 2036, a 25% shortfall that ranks the state among the top 10 with the largest projected nursing shortages.

Hospitals and health care facilities here are already experiencing the effects. Vacancy rates for registered nurses in hospitals are as high as 13.4%, while nurse extender vacancies reach 16.9%, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association.

There are other factors, too. Plenty of them. Burnout. Pandemic-related trauma. An aging workforce. High turnover— about 24% for registered nurses and nearly 50% for licensed practical nurses, according to reports. Together, they continue to strain an already overstretched system.

Against this bleak backdrop, federal student loan policy changes are further restricting access to nursing education.

Also seeking: Faculty

New Jersey’s nursing shortage cannot be addressed without also confronting a less visible but equally serious challenge: the shortage of nursing faculty. Schools of nursing across the state are turning away qualified applicants, not because of a lack of interest or academic readiness, but because there are not enough nurse educators to teach them. Graduate nursing education is the primary pathway for preparing both advanced practice nurses and nursing faculty.

When federal policies make graduate education less accessible by limiting student loan eligibility, the impact extends far beyond individual students. It narrows the pipeline of future educators, reduces nursing school capacity and limits the number of new nurses entering the workforce. This creates a compounding cycle: fewer graduate-prepared nurses lead to fewer faculty, which in turn leads to fewer admitted students. The result is a worsening shortage.

Nurses are the largest segment of the health care workforce and the backbone of patient care in New Jersey. In many communities, particularly rural, underserved and medically vulnerable areas, advanced practice registered nurses are essential to ensuring access to timely, high-quality care.

When nurses are unable to pursue advanced education due to financial barriers, patients feel the consequences through reduced access to care, longer waiting times and increased reliance on costly temporary staffing. These are barriers that disproportionately affect nurses from working-class backgrounds, first-generation college students and those committed to serving high-need populations.

When nurses are unable to pursue advanced education due to financial barriers, patients feel the consequences …

Efforts are underway in New Jersey to expand nursing program enrollment, strengthen recruitment pipelines and improve workplace conditions. But these efforts depend on a strong and sustainable education pipeline, one that includes adequate financial support for nursing students and the educators who prepare them.

That’s why we stand with national nursing leaders in calling on the U.S. Department of Education to include graduate nursing programs within the professional-degree classification used for federal loan eligibility purposes.

The New Jersey State Nurses Association stands in opposition to the U.S. Department of Education’s lack of recognition of nursing as a profession.

Judy Schmidt is the CEO of the New Jersey State Nurses Association.