‘We Are Professionals’: Coalition of Unions Sue to Block New Student Loan Rule that Will Hurt Patient Care and Worsen Staffing Crises

WASHINGTON-A coalition of unions representing hundreds of thousands of public service and healthcare workers filed a lawsuit this week challenging the Department of Education's new Reimagining and Improving Student Education rule. The rule sets draconian new limits on the amount of federal student loans students can borrow for graduate education in some of our nation's most critical and understaffed professions. And it lawlessly compounds the problem by making many professional workers ineligible for the higher caps it sets for "professional" students. This will severely affect degrees in advanced practice nursing, public health, social work, library sciences and more by deeming these degrees to be "non-professional." That designation will limit federal student loan support, exacerbating the staffing crisis in these public service professions.

The lawsuit argues that the Education Department's new rule illegally narrowed Congress' definition of a "professional degree." This definition excludes essential public service professions under a regulation that has been in place for decades and was codified by Congress just last year. The administration is making the path to professional public service jobs unaffordable, thereby hurting communities that rely on these workers for critical care and services.

The union coalition filing the suit includes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the AFT, National Nurses United and the AFL-CIO.

"One of the most cynical, cruel components of the Trump tax bill was the cuts to the higher education student loan program," said AFT President Randi Weingarten. "Now the effect is clear: By 'de-professionalizing' nursing, architecture, social work, teaching and countless other careers, the Trump administration is eviscerating education access for poor and working-class students and their families and dismantling pathways to the middle class. The court must strike down this administration's unlawful attack on college affordability. It tells students they aren't valued and crushes their dreams. And it harms communities across the country who rely on the services these students would provide."

"The same administration that cut healthcare to give billionaires more tax cuts is now trying to make it impossible for advanced practice nurses, social workers, public health professionals and others to afford the education they need to care for our communities," said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. "We are already facing staffing crises in too many public service professions, and this rule threatens to make the situation even more dire. The court must strike down this illegal rule to protect quality patient care, social services and public health, and ensure that workers aren't priced out of these critical public service professions."

"This decision to exclude graduate nursing students from professional loans is an attack on the nursing profession. The rule change affects nurses pursuing a graduate degree to be a nurse practitioner, nurse midwife or certified nurse anesthetist," said NNU President Jamie Brown, RN. "Graduate students pursuing a professional degree are eligible for more than twice as much funding for each academic year and twice as much total funding than graduate nursing students. It is an insult to our profession."

"This rule shuts out the next generation of nurses, social workers and public health professionals before they even get started," said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. "The Department of Education may have decided these degrees don't count as 'professional,' but communities that rely on these essential services know that this couldn't be further from the truth. After kicking millions of working families off their healthcare, firing federal workers and gutting federal agencies, the administration is making it harder for working people to enter these careers and forcing hospitals, clinics and state and local agencies to do even more with less. The AFL-CIO is in this fight because no worker who dedicates their life to public service should be priced out of it."

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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.