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Nursing is a Professional Degree Act
To amend the definition of professional student in the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Summary
This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to formally recognize nursing degrees as professional degrees for federal student aid purposes. The bill updates the definition of "professional degree" to mean a degree that represents both completion of academic requirements for beginning professional practice and a level of skill beyond a bachelor's degree, and explicitly lists nursing degrees (Master's of Science in Nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice, and Ph.D.) among qualifying professional degrees. The list of qualifying professional degrees previously included pharmacy, medicine, law, dentistry, and similar licensed professions; this bill adds nursing to that established list. The amendment also allows the Secretary of Education to recognize other degrees that meet the definition of professional degree. This change may affect how nursing students are treated under federal student loan repayment programs and other provisions of federal student aid law that apply specifically to professional students.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
7 cosponsors
Actions (2)
- May 19, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. · senate
- May 19, 2026 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 19, 2026
Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Wicker, Ms. Lummis, Ms. Murkowski, and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the definition of professional student in the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Nursing is a Professional Degree Act”.
SEC. 2. PROFESSIONAL STUDENT AND PROFESSIONAL DEGREE DEFINED.
Section 455(a)(4)(C) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(a)(4)(C)) is amended—
(1) in clause (ii), by striking “, as defined under section 668.2 of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this paragraph),”; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
“(iii) Professional degree.—In this paragraph, the term ‘professional degree’ —
“(I) means a degree that signifies both completion of the academic requirements for beginning practice in a given profession (for which professional licensure is also commonly required), and a level of professional skill beyond that normally required for a bachelor’s degree; and
“(II) includes each of the following: “(aa) Pharmacy (Pharm.D.). “(bb) Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.).
“(cc) Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.).
“(dd) Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.). “(ee) Law (L.L.B. or J.D.). “(ff) Medicine (M.D.). “(gg) Optometry (O.D.). “(hh) Osteopathic Medicine or Osteopathy (D.O.).
“(ii) Podiatric Medicine or Podiatry (D.P.M., D.P., or Pod.D.). “(jj) Theology or Theological Studies (M.Div. or M.H.L.). “(kk) Clinical Psychology (Psy.D. or Ph.D.).
“(ll) Nursing (MSN, DNP, DNAP, or Ph.D).
“(mm) Any other degree that meets the requirements of subclause (I), as determined by the Secretary.”. <all>
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