NRHA Statement on Department of Education RISE Final Rule

On April 30 the Department of Education (ED) released its Reimaging and Improving Student Education final rule which implements provisions from H.R. 1 that change federal student loan programs. These changes include establishing new loan limits for graduate students, professional students, and parents, and phasing out the Graduate PLUS (Grad PLUS) Program. Additionally, the final rule adopts a limited definition of “professional degrees” for the purpose of accessing higher federal student loan borrowing limits. 

NRHA is extremely disappointed with the Department’s decision to finalize its definition of “professional degree” as proposed. The definition excludes many critical rural health professionals, such as graduate nursing, physician assistant/associate (PA), public health, physical therapy, and social work. As a result, these degrees will be less accessible, particularly for students from disadvantaged rural backgrounds, further exacerbating rural health workforce shortages. Federal student loan programs help students from every community, including rural, to access health professions training and grow the workforce.

Rural areas struggle to recruit and retain an adequate workforce to care for the population. Across the country, the supply of nurse practitioners (NPs), PAs, behavioral health clinicians (including psychiatric NPs, social workers, and counselors), and advanced practice midwives are lower in rural counties than urban counties. Creating any new barriers to entry into these fields will worsen existing shortages in rural areas. 

For more information, please contact Alexa Mckinley Abel or Carrie Cochran McClain.