# Bipartisan pushback erupts over nursing loan limits  
**Published:** 2026-05-14T22:31:08.000Z  
**Source:** [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/14/repub/us-house-members-scrutinize-big-beautiful-laws-loan-limits-for-nursing-degrees/)  
**AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001)  
**Canonical:** https://lincolne.news/article/bipartisan-pushback-erupts-over-nursing-loan-limits

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon faced sharp criticism during a House hearing Thursday over proposed restrictions on federal student loans for graduate nursing students and other advanced degree programs, according to [the Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/14/repub/us-house-members-scrutinize-big-beautiful-laws-loan-limits-for-nursing-degrees/).

The controversy centers on how the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act defines "professional" degrees for purposes of federal loan limits. [Graduate students in Nebraska](https://www.studentloanplanner.com/nebraska-student-loan-forgiveness/) pursuing nursing, teaching and social work degrees will face tighter borrowing caps beginning July 1, while traditional professional programs like medicine and law receive higher limits.

Under the new rules, graduate students can borrow up to $20,500 annually with a $100,000 lifetime limit. Students in "professional" programs get $50,000 yearly and $200,000 total. However, the Department of Education's narrow definition of professional degrees includes only pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry, theology and clinical psychology.

Rep. Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat, called the nursing exclusion "one of the most insulting, tone-deaf messages to 5 million nurses imaginable across the country." He cited a petition from the American Nurses Association that garnered more than 245,000 signatures opposing the definition.

McMahon defended the policy as necessary to control tuition costs, emphasizing her department made no judgment about nursing's value. She cited data suggesting 95 percent of nurses don't exceed the proposed caps.

Even some Republicans questioned the limits. Rep. Lisa McClain, chair of the House Republican Conference, suggested the nursing exclusion was an "unintended consequence" and asked if loan caps could be expanded for graduate nursing programs.

Multiple bipartisan efforts to address the issue have emerged in Congress. Bills introduced would either expand the professional degree definition to include nursing or equalize loan limits across graduate and professional students. A Senate companion measure has attracted more than a dozen co-sponsors, while Democratic lawmakers filed a resolution seeking to reverse the regulations using the Congressional Review Act.

## Sources

- [Nebraska Examiner](https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/14/repub/us-house-members-scrutinize-big-beautiful-laws-loan-limits-for-nursing-degrees/)
- [Student Loan Planner - Guide to Nebraska Student Loan Forgiveness](https://www.studentloanplanner.com/nebraska-student-loan-forgiveness/)

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This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Nebraska Examiner, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2026/05/14/repub/us-house-members-scrutinize-big-beautiful-laws-loan-limits-for-nursing-degrees/.