March 2

• AACN signed onto comment letters from the NP Extended Roundtable and the Federation of Associations of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP), urging the Department of Education to include post-baccalaureate nursing education in its definition of professional degree programs.
  
  
• AACN submitted comments to the Department of Education in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking strongly requesting that the Department explicitly include post-baccalaureate nursing programs in its definition of “professional degree” programs as it implements the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. AACN also signed onto comment letters from the Nursing Community Coalition and the Tri-Council for Nursing making the same request.
  
  
• AACN signed onto a letter led by the American Council on Education (ACE) urging the Department of Education to expand the definition of professional degree programs, specifically citing post-baccalaureate nursing as programs that should be included.
  
  
• AACN led and signed onto a comment letter, along with 277 national and state-level organizations across different health professions, including 38 members of the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC), urging the Department of Education to amend its proposed rule and include post-baccalaureate nursing degrees (MSN, DNP, Ph.D.) explicitly in the list of “professional” degrees.

November 7

• AACN was the first national nursing organization to issue a press release expressing alarm over Department of Education’s proposed limits on student loan access for nursing.
  

October 31

• AACN signed onto a Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) letter to U.S. Department of Education, urging the Department’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee to explicitly include post-baccalaureate nursing programs in the regulatory definition of “professional degree programs” when implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 
  
  
• AACN signed onto a letter along with a broad coalition of health professions, education programs, and professional associations to the Department of Education’s (ED) Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee asking the Department to adopt a clear and consistent standard for defining "professional degrees" in the health professions sector including classifying all professions under CIP Code 51-Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences as "professional degrees." 

October 2

• AACN signed onto a FASHP letter to the U.S. Department of Education regarding its negotiated rulemaking process on the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The letter urges the Department to ensure that the health professions workforce is considered a single, integrated workforce when determining loan eligibility criteria.

August 28

• AACN signed onto an ACE-led letter led by the American Council on Education (ACE) urging the Department of Education to implement the One Big Beautiful Bill "in a way that fully considers the impact on all stakeholders, including students, families, institutions of higher education, and current and future student loan borrowers." Among ACE's recommendations was the creation of a comprehensive list of "professional degree programs" that includes nursing among other programs.

August 25

• August 25: AACN submitted comments to the Department of Education urging the Department to modernize the existing definition of “professional degree” under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to explicitly include post-baccalaureate nursing degrees.
  
  
• AACN joined a broad coalition coalition of healthcare providers and programs in a letter encouraging the Department of Education to ensure that all graduate-level health professions programs required for licensure are included in the regulatory definition of “professional degree program.” .
  
  
• AACN signed onto Nursing Community Coalition comments to the Department of Education urging the Department to modernize the existing definition of “professional degree” under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to explicitly include post-baccalaureate nursing degrees.

• The Tri-Council for Nursing shared a statement urging nurses to submit comments on Department of Education's professional degree designation rule.
  
  
• The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology released a statement warning that a proposed student-loan cap threatens nurse-anesthesia education and patient access to care.
  
  
• The American Association of Nurse Practitioners shared a statement expressing concern over the Department of Education negotiated rulemaking.
  
  
• The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) issued a statement in support of nursing as a professional degree. “CASN stands united with our U.S. colleagues and global partners in urging immediate action to review this position.”
  
  
• The National Academy of Medicine released a statement on November 24 underscoring how nurses are essential to healthcare and “deserving of professional degree recognition.”
  
  
• National Nurses United, the country’s largest union of registered nurses, issued a statement condemning the Trump administration’s proposed plan to exclude graduate nursing students from higher loan limits available to students pursuing “professional” degrees.

• Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL) shared a video underscoring the importance of recognizing nursing education within professional degree classifications and urging the Department of Education to reconsider its position.
  
  
• Representative Timothy Kennedy (D-NY) organized a letter supported by more than 60 Democratic Representatives urging the Department of Education to include nursing programs within the definition of professional degree programs.
  
  
• Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is circulating a letter to his Congressional colleagues to be sent to the Department of Education urging the inclusion of nursing within the definition of professional degree programs.
  
  
• Representative Ann Wagner (R-MO-02) released a statement that she “strongly disagree[s] with the Department of Education’s recent changes classifying graduate nursing degrees on a lower footing than other medical degrees and will be making it clear to the Administration that these changes are unacceptable and should be immediately reversed.”
  
  
• Representative Michael V. Lawler (R-NY-17) sent a letter to Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon encouraging the Department to “maintain a wider definition of ‘professional degree’ to include programs such as nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and more.”
  
  
• Representative Joe Courtney (D-CT-02) gave a speech on the floor of Congress highlighting the Department of Education’s failure to classify post-baccalaureate nursing programs as professional programs while the nation “is experiencing a nursing shortage.”
  
  
• Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02), a nurse and House Nursing Caucus Vice Co-Chair, sent a letter to the Department of Education's Secretary and Under Secretary asking for an immediate reconsideration of nursing's inclusion under the "professional degree” classification.