Oppose Proposed Definition of Professional Degrees for Student Loan Limits

Today I take pen in hand to write and urge you to oppose the Department of Education's proposed definition of which post-baccalaureate degrees qualify as professional for student loan limit purposes. It’s just another attack on education, especially college education. It’s deliberately racist, and longer term will make the US less competitive. Data from the U.S. Department of Education itself shows that the professional degrees excluded from this narrow definition are predominantly held by women. In 2021-2022, women held over 75 percent of master's and doctorate degrees in registered nursing, social work, teaching, and public health. Republicans, bowing to their Christian Nationalist leaders are trying to turn back the clock. Women earned at least 90 percent of master's degrees in audiology, occupational therapy, and dental hygiene. This proposal will force students in these programs to rely on private loans with less favorable terms and fewer protections than federal loans, compounding the effects of the gender pay gap. Black students will be especially harmed because many rely on federal student loans at disproportionately high rates due to systemic inequities and discriminatory exclusion from private lending. For many Black borrowers, federal loans are their only pathway to careers in education, nursing, and social work. This comes at a time when we face severe workforce shortages in these exact fields. More than 50 legal, civil rights and educational organizations have protested this move by the Trumpian Department of Education. To add to the inequity, Trump’s Dept. Of Ed. Is offering breaks on loans for ICE workers while making it harder for women and Black students to pay for education in teaching, nursing, and community care. I ask you to publicly oppose and excoriate this proposed definition and advocate for graduate education financing policies that address historic discrimination rather than perpetuate it. Our communities need teachers, nurses, social workers, and public health professionals, and we should be expanding access to these careers, not restricting it. Thank you.