By Margaret Farrell Daingerfield and Keith Hovey on behalf of the NJSNA 

Prospective students across the country are beginning to choose which graduate nursing program to attend in the fall. Unfortunately for many nurses considering an advanced degree, it will be less affordable thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA). Through its regulatory process, effective July 2026, the Department of Education’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee will establish an annual borrowing cap of $20,500 and a cumulative aggregate limit of $100,000 for new borrowers pursuing post-baccalaureate nursing degrees. These restrictions stand in sharp contrast to the loan limits set for students in other degree tracks, defined as “professional”. For example, physicians, pharmacists, chiropractors, and others listed under this definition will be allowed to borrow up to $50,000 per year and a total of $200,000 over the course of their studies in professional degree tracks. Comments on the proposed rule are due March 2, 2026.

The New Jersey State Nurses Association (NJSNA) has taken an official stance against the RISE Committee’s recent decision regarding federal loan limits for students pursuing advanced nursing degrees. The decision not to include nursing in the definition of a “profession” under the proposed caps will negatively and dramatically impact the nursing workforce. At a time when the United States, and New Jersey in particular, is experiencing an increasingly aging population and a persistent nursing shortage, we must ensure the accessibility of nursing education to all qualified individuals.

In just four years, 20% of New Jersey’s projected 10 million residents will be over the age of 65. Currently, New Jersey has approximately 112,000 practicing registered nurses and approximately 16,000 working advance practice nurses. According to a 2025 New Jersey Data and Analysis Report by the New Jersey Collaboration Center for Nursing (NJCCN), New Jersey has experienced an 11% decline in nursing school enrollees from 2021-2023. As detailed in the report, by 2036, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) projects New Jersey will experience a shortage of 24,450 nurses, which equates to a 25% shortfall in the nursing workforce needed to meet the healthcare needs of its residents. Only four states are expected to experience a worse shortage. Limiting the borrowing capacity of nurses seeking advanced practice degrees will reduce the number of advanced practice nurses (APNs). APNs play a vital role in New Jersey through the provision of primary and mental health care, particularly in underserved areas, and serve as nursing faculty needed to educate future nurses.

Under the current Administration, the proposed federal loan caps will make pursuing a graduate nursing degree financially impossible for many and will have far reaching consequences. In 2023, U.S. nursing schools turned away 65,766 qualified applications from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs due to insufficient number of faculty and clinical sites. According to a Special Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions released in October 2023 by American Association of Colleges of Nursing, a total of 1,977 full-time faculty vacancies were identified in a survey of 922 nursing schools. In 2024, New Jersey reported 80 nurse faculty vacancies (NJCCN, 2026), a clear indication of the challenges the state faces in maintaining an adequate supply of qualified nursing educators. Without the regulatory mandated number of faculty, nursing schools will continue to reject otherwise qualified applicants. Moreover, many qualified applicants may abandon their pursuit of a career in nursing to pursue other career options altogether.

What can be done?

New Jersey nurses, through professional nursing organizations such as NJSNA and the American Nurses Association, must support national advocacy efforts to recognize and define nursing as a profession, especially in the higher proposed RISE loan limits.

We ask the New Jersey Legislature and the incoming Sherrill-Caldwell Administration to support the education of nursing faculty. In 2024, New Jersey P.L. 2023, c.244 increased the amount available for loan redemption up to $50,000 over 5 years for full-time nursing faculty. Yet those nursing faculty without full-time status are considered for loan redemption only on a pro-rata basis. Absent a change in the caps proposed by RISE, the loan redemption amount will need to be increased. Specifically, we need to work to provide greater financial assistance through grants and loan forgiveness to New Jersey nursing students pursuing undergraduate and graduate nursing degrees that will agree to work in the state upon graduation.

Nursing is, without question, a distinguished profession, and nurses pursuing advanced degrees to serve as educators, clinical practitioners, or researchers require advanced education and rigorous preparation. Ensuring equitable support for nursing as a profession is imperative to meet the workforce demands. Addressing the ongoing and severe shortages of faculty and primary care or mental health providers—particularly in states like New Jersey—requires that nursing be immediately recognized among the professions eligible for higher federal loan limits. Such recognition is essential to securing the future of the nursing workforce and maintaining high-quality healthcare delivery for all.

Margaret Farrell Daingerfield EdD, RN, CNE
President, New Jersey State Nurses Association

Keith L. Hovey, JD, BSN, RN

Past Chair, New Jersey State Nurses Association’s Political Action Committee

on behalf of the NJSNA