The Department of Education has officially reclassified nursing as a non-professional degree, a decision that has stirred significant outrage and concern regarding its impact on student loans. This shift is part of broader changes initiated under the Trump administration, which also includes a list of degrees that have been excluded from professional designation, notably excluding nursing and accounting. New federal rules proposed in conjunction with this reclassification suggest caps on student loans for nursing degrees, prompting Tennessee lawmakers to warn of a potential worsening in the nursing shortage. As the Education Department prepares to overhaul federal student loan regulations, education advocates and students are left grappling with the implications of this classification change.