Students and academics across the country are feeling undervalued due to the Trump administration’s proposal to stop classifying multiple graduate and doctoral programs as “professional degrees.”

Programs no longer on the professional degree list include nursing, social work, architecture, education and physical therapy. Some have said the list is largely made up of many female dominant professions, making them think there is another agenda behind the new categorization.

“That may be a goal of this administration … to make it more difficult for women to pursue careers and to be out in the work force,” said Neil Vincent, a professor and the chair of social work at DePaul.

President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law last year. Under this act, the U.S. Department of Education has reclassified which programs at the graduate level are considered professional degrees. Students in professional degree programs can borrow up to $200,000 in federal loans over the course of four years. Those pursuing a degree in graduate or doctoral programs not considered professional can borrow $100,000 in federal loans, also for four years.

The Department of Education says their professional degree definition is not based on the programs themselves but that it is a way for the department to classify which programs qualify for $200,000 loan limits.

The department said this limit on student federal loans will cause students pursuing a graduate education to take out less loan debt.

Laura Silveira, a DePaul senior majoring in public policy, disagrees that the limit will mean less student loan debt.

“They’ll just go to loans with higher interest rates,” Silveira said. “At the end of the day, it will definitely benefit the banking system. I think less people end up seeking those degrees, ultimately.”

Tess MacGregor, a junior at Marquette University pursuing a degree in nursing, says her goal is to go back to school and become a nurse practitioner — which requires an advanced degree.

“It’ll make me consider different avenues or different hospital systems that I might work for, depending on what they provide,” MacGregor said, referring to tuition coverage or reimbursement agreements. “The federal loan being reduced could definitely either extend my time before I go back to school or deter it completely.”

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is also eliminating the Grad PLUS program that allowed students to borrow loans up to the cost of their programs’ tuition.

The Department of Education says that placing a cap on loans will push graduate nursing programs to reduce their program costs.

But Vincent, the DePaul social work chair, said the loan caps only reduce funding accessibility to students and “will not at all reduce the cost of tuition at any institution.”

Beyond impacting female-dominated fields, Vincent said that excluding social work from the list of professional degrees could reduce the number of mental health professionals. 

“Social work provides about 60% to 70% of the mental health services in this country,” Vincent said. “By restricting this funding, you are going to very much reduce the potential for mental health professionals that are truly needed right now.”

Daniel Mead, a Double Demon and former DePaul professor, is an associate professor in the college of nursing at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago.

Mead said despite nursing being the largest division in health care, the reclassification is “dismissive of the reality of nursing education and the healthcare workforce.” 

Alexandra Michel, an assistant professor at Rosalind Franklin and a licensed certified nurse-midwife, agreed that the loan cap will not mean a program’s price will change.  

“Remember that universities are businesses,” Michel said. “Are you telling loan companies that they should lower the rate on their mortgages so that home buyers have less debt there?”

A university partnership allows DePaul students pursuing health science degrees to apply for early admission to Rosalind Franklin.

The Department of Education is expected to submit a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking — an explanation of the agency’s intent — to the Federal Register early this year. This allows the public an opportunity to comment on the proposal.

The department will review comments and consider changes before a final rule is published in the Federal Register.

Related stories:

• BREAKING: Trump administration halts federal grants and loans

• ‘It’s not just about the money’: Trump eyes shuttering the Department of Education

• Students are losing hope in Biden’s student loan repayment plans