Advocacy Alert: Nurse Education Funding Cuts
New US Department of Education rules could sharply restrict access to federal financing for graduate-level nursing students, including CNSs and other APRNs. The proposal would reclassify post-baccalaureate nursing programs as “graduate” degrees instead of “professional” degrees. As a result, nursing students would qualify for only half the federal loan amounts available to medical students.
NACNS is uniting with over fifty other nursing organizations to get this policy changed before the final regulation language is released in early 2026, and implementation in July 2026.
Take Action Now
One easy thing you can do right now is sign the petition to ask the Department of Education to include nursing in its proposed definition of professional degree programs. It takes less than a minute and is an important way to leverage strength in numbers.
Further steps you can take include:
- Post about the issue on social media, and reshare posts from NACNS and other organizations to your followers. (“Liking” the posts is great, but the real magic happens when you reshare.
- Talk about the issue with colleagues.
- Contact your member of Congress. You can use the “Find Your Representative” tool on https://www.house.gov/ to learn who they are.