Wisconsin Joins Lawsuit Contesting Federal Redefinition of Nursing Degrees
Are nursing degrees not 'professional'? Suit argues Trump administration exceeds its authority.
Jessica Coburn, an assistant professor at the UW-Madison School of Nursing, draws up COVID-19 vaccines while volunteering at the clinic in Jefferson County on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. Angela Major/WPR
Just weeks after changes to federal student loan policy officially reclassified nursing and other programs as no longer “professional” degrees, Wisconsin has joined two dozen other states in suing the Trump administration over the policy.
Under President Donald Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Congress redefined what constitutes a professional degree and placed lower borrowing caps on nonprofessional graduate programs.
In the multistate lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland on Tuesday, a coalition of Democratic attorneys general and governors said that the Department of Education imposed further restrictions on the congressional limits. The lawsuit argues that that goes beyond the agency’s authority.
Through the rulemaking process, the education department determined that nursing, physician assistant and physical therapy students, among others, were graduate students who could take out $20,500 per year.
That’s down from $50,000 per year, available to students in designated professional programs, like dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, theology and veterinary medicine.
In a statement announcing Wisconsin’s participation in the case, Attorney General Josh Kaul argued that these changes could worsen existing shortages of health care workers, by making those degrees less financially accessible for many students.
“We should be supporting the development of the health-care workforce,” said Kaul. “But this rule would make it harder for some to be able to pay for certain degree programs, including those for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.”
The lawsuit also argues that public universities that offer such training will also suffer from the loss of revenue, potentially leading to fewer admissions into these programs.
The changes under the signature Trump law, passed last summer, reflected an argument from conservatives that unpaid student loans contribute to skyrocketing tuition costs.
“The consensus language agreed upon by the negotiators today will help drive a sea change in higher education by holding universities accountable for outcomes and putting significant downward pressure on the cost of tuition,” said Nicholas Kent, the undersecretary of education, when the rule was negotiated.
At the time of its negotiation, health care experts in Wisconsin sounded the alarm over existing staffing challenges across the state. It was officially promulgated on May 1.
Prior to the changes, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development predicted that the state would be short between 12,000 and 19,000 nurses by 2040.
Alongside Wisconsin, the lawsuit was signed onto by attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
Wisconsin joins lawsuit after nursing degrees redefined as not ‘professional’ was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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