WASHINGTON, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the United States Department of Education released the Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) final rule. In this rule, the department declined to recognize post-baccalaureate nursing degrees as professional degrees for the purposes of federal student loans. Despite the department’s own recognition that nursing met the operative definition of “professional student” provided by Congress, the department declined to add nursing to the definition of professional degrees in the released final rule.
While the department recognizes the value of nursing to our nation’s health care system, these actions speak louder than words, and this rule will do significant harm to the nursing workforce at a time when our nation is already in dire need of increased access to nurses.
“This final rule will harm patient access to the high-quality care delivered by nurse practitioners by limiting those who can choose nursing as their profession,” said AANP President Valerie Fuller, PhD, DNP. “These actions by the Department of Education will weaken our health care system and do not serve the nation’s best interest.”
As the largest professional association for nurse practitioners, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) thanks the thousands of stakeholders who weighed in to compel the Department of Education to include post-baccalaureate nursing in their final rule. While the department’s decision is wrong and harmful, the fight continues, and AANP calls on the President and Congress to take immediate action to address the damage to the nursing profession.
The American Association of Nurse Practitioners® (AANP) is the largest professional membership organization representing the 461,000 licensed nurse practitioners (NPs) in the United States. As The Voice of the Nurse Practitioner®, AANP advances health policy and promotes excellence in practice, education and research to support high-quality, patient-centered care. Learn more at aanp.org.
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SOURCE American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP)
