BY RUSSELL UNDERWOOD, HCC MANAGING EDITOR

A federal judge has blocked the implementation of a rule that would have changed the definition of “professional” degree and lowered federal student loan limits for nurses and other professionals seeking advanced degrees. The rule had been set to take effect on July 1.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled in favor of a group of professional associations including the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Democracy Forward represented the group in its challenge to the final rule from the Department of Education, which would have limited the number of graduate degrees that count as “professional,” thereby significantly reducing the amount of federal loan assistance available to excluded groups, including graduate students in nursing.

In response to the injunction, Dr. Deborah Trautman, AACN President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a written statement, “AACN is encouraged by this initial action which supports our efforts to sustain federal funding for nursing students pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees and to recognize nursing as a professional degree.”

“This is an important step for nurse practitioner students, as well as the future health care workforce and the patients who depend on them for access to care,” AANP President Valerie Fuller, PhD, DNP, said in a statement from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. “We are pleased the court recognized the serious legal concerns raised by this rule.”

The American Nurses Association (ANA), along with a number of other healthcare associations, filed a separate suit challenging the Department of Education’s redefinition of professional degree programs.

In a written statement provided to Health Career Center by the ANA, Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, president of the American Nurses Association, stated, “We are encouraged by the injunction in the Democracy Forward case and what it signals for nurses, nursing students and the communities that depend on their care. The American Nurses Association will continue to pursue the Nurse-Forward lawsuit because the future of nursing — and the health of our communities — depends on removing unnecessary barriers to educating the next generation of nurses.”