1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I am a Licensed Master Clinical Social Worker, a hiring manager, and a behavioral health workforce developer at a major organization in Michigan. I watch the clinician pipeline shrink every single day and this rule will accelerate that collapse. A master’s degree is not optional in this field. Licensure as a clinical social worker requires graduate education. Restricting access to federal graduate loan limits does not reduce the cost of that education it simply makes it inaccessible to the people most likely to serve underserved communities: first-generation students, social workers of color, and individuals from rural areas. When we create financial barriers to entering this profession, we don’t just lose individual clinicians. We lose capacity in community mental health centers, hospitals, schools, and nonprofits at a time when Michigan communities are already facing a crisis in mental health and substance use care. Social work requires rigorous graduate training, supervised clinical hours, and ongoing licensure. This rule treats it as less than a profession. It will cost us clinicians we cannot afford to lose. Please support the Congressional Review Act introduced by Representatives Bonamici, Mannion, and Underwood. Stand with Michigan’s behavioral health workforce and the communities depending on us.