Essentia Health urges Department of Education to reconsider proposed changes to graduate student loa

Essentia outlines significant workforce development, training and financial concerns in public comment
 
Essentia Health today submitted a public comment urging the U.S. Department of Education to reconsider its proposed changes to graduate student loan policies. Essentia joined over 46,000 individuals and organizations in submitting comments on the issue, outlining significant workforce development, training and financial concerns that would restrict access to health care.
 
If the proposed rule took effect, many health care fields, including nurse practitioners and physician assistants, would no longer be considered professional degrees. This would limit how much money students can borrow from federal student loan programs for these roles, making it more difficult for students to afford graduate-level education costs.
 
“Essentia is deeply concerned about these proposed changes and their effect on the future of our workforce. By limiting access to financial aid for those seeking advanced health care degrees, the proposed policy changes will shrink the pipeline of future providers,” said Karla French Baker, Essentia Health West Market director of advanced practice. “The effects of these changes will be felt most acutely in rural areas that already struggle to recruit and retain clinicians. Facing these workforce shortages, we should be making it easier for students to choose advanced health care professions, not more difficult.”
 
The proposed rule revises the department’s administrative definition of “professional degree” programs, excluding nursing, physician assistants, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work and education from the list of qualifying health care fields.
 
Essentia’s primary concerns with the policy changes include:
 

• Financial impact: Graduate nursing students and other health care professions will face reduced borrowing limits for federal student loans, making it more difficult to afford and attain advanced degrees in health care.
• Disruption to workforce and educator pipelines: Advanced practice nurses, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists and nurse educators all require graduate-level preparation. By constraining access to federal financing for these programs, the revised definition threatens the pipeline of highly trained professionals needed to meet growing health care demands and train the next generation of health care providers.
• Future access to care: At a time when health systems nationwide are already experiencing clinician shortages, the proposed borrowing limits would negatively impact the provider workforce and threaten health care access, especially in rural and underserved communities. In Essentia Health’s West Market, for example, over 90% of all urgent/walk-in care visits are with an advanced practice provider.