Gov. Josh Stein points to a need within the Tar Heel State to hire more health care professionals in his letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
RALEIGH, N.C. โ A proposed change to student loan rules in the U.S. made by the Trump administration could mean that graduate students pursuing certain degree paths would face more annual limits on what can be borrowed, a move that has alarmed a swath of people that now includes North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein.
While nothing has officially passed yet, the U.S. Department of Education’s proposal changes which degree types are considered “professional” programs. Students pursuing degrees that are deemed professional are able to borrow up to $50,000 annually in federal loans under federal law, while all other graduate programs can only borrow up to $20,500. It would also eliminate Grad PLUS Loans, which allow graduate and professional students to borrow up to the full cost of attendance.
The new proposal would mean the fields like nursing, physical therapy, social work or architrcture are not included as professional degrees, even though they all require licensure and advanced training.
Stein, in a letter sent to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Dec. 9, 2025, said this move could impact the healthcare workforce pipeline for North Carolina.
“We should be reducing barriers to advancement in this profession, not making it harder for these professionals to pursue the nursing credentials that prepare them to care for patients,” part of Stein’s letter read. “Already, of the nearly 40 percent of nurses in North Carolina who plan to leave the profession within five years, one-fifth cite a lack of opportunity for promotion or advancement.”
Stein cited a 2025 report that found the Tar Heel State faces a 13% vacancy rate of registered nurses, while rural counties face a 15% vacancy rate. Both are contrasts against an average 10% vacancy rate nationally. Another report Stein cited said that North Carolina has the eighth-worst shortage of nursing-related professionals in the country, and that the state would need more than 17,500 additional professionals by 2033 to meet the state’s growing population.
Stein noted that lawmakers in the state’s General Assembly have made bipartisan progress to address the issue, appropriating $55 million in 2023 for the state’s community college system to address the shortages.ย
“However, the limits proposed by the Department of Education would severely impede our efforts to expand nursing education at precisely the moment North Carolina needs to grow our health care workforce pipeline,” the governor added in his letter.
Several groups, including the American Nurses Association and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, have slammed the proposal similarly.
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