Bill Text: NJ SCR140 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Urges U.S. Department of Education to include certain degree programs within list of professional degree programs used by federal student loan system.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-12-15 - Reported from Senate Committee with Amendments, 2nd Reading [SCR140 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2024-SCR140-Amended.html

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[First Reprint]

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 140

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

221st LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED DECEMBER 8, 2025

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  JOSEPH P. CRYAN

District 20 (Union)

Senator  JOSEPH F. VITALE

District 19 (Middlesex)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Urges U.S. Department of Education to include certain degree programs within list of professional degree programs used by federal student loan system.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Senate Higher Education Committee on December 15, 2025, with amendments.

  

A Concurrent Resolution respectfully urging the United States Department of Education to ensure enhanced borrowing availability for ¹[nursing education] certain professional degree programs¹. 

 

Whereas, The federal "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," required the federal Department of Education to designate programs as professional degree programs under the federal student loan system to be eligible for higher federal lending limits; and

Whereas, The federal law also revised the borrowing limits for federal student loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. Graduate students will see new limits of up to $20,500 per year ($100,000 lifetime cap), while students in professional degree programs will see higher limits of $50,000 a year ($200,000 lifetime cap); and

Whereas, The United States Department of Education, however, has proposed rules that exclude ¹education,¹ nursing ¹, physical therapy, dental hygiene, occupational therapy, social work, architecture, and accounting¹ degree programs from the list of professional degree programs that have higher borrowing limits.  This means ¹[nursing] these¹ students will have less access to borrowing at a time when the nation is facing ¹[a]¹ critical ¹[shortage of nurses] shortages in these fields¹; and  

Whereas, The change will impact hundreds of thousands of students.  According to the American Nurses Association, more than 260,000 students are currently enrolled in Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs and another 42,000 students are currently enrolled in Associate Degree in Nursing programs; and

Whereas, Nursing and other health care professionals have sounded the alarm that limiting access to borrowing for ¹[nursing] health¹ education threatens the very foundation of patient care at a time when the health care environment is already under great strain; and

Whereas, The nursing shortage is expected to become more acute in the coming years, and New Jersey will be especially hard hit.  According to a report by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, New Jersey is facing a projected shortage of more than 24,000 nurses by the year 2036, the fourth largest shortage in the nation; and

Whereas, Experts caution that the rule change will have far-reaching consequences to the supply of nurses in advanced practice roles and teaching positions.  Nurse practitioners, in particular, are essential to meeting critical needs in medically underserved areas, including rural and urban areas.  They are also critically needed as teachers who grow and sustain the nursing workforce; and

¹Whereas, Limiting the borrowing capacity of future educators will only exacerbate school staffing challenges, as New Jersey school districts struggle to fill positions in key areas, such as science, world languages, and English as a second language; and

Whereas, The American Physical Therapy Association issued a statement in response to the proposed rule, saying the change is "misguided and misinformed and will have a significant negative impact on the health of our communities and country by diminishing the number of quality health care professionals available to an already strained workforce"; and

Whereas, The American Institute of Architects strongly opposes any proposal that fails to recognize architects as professionals, and that to "classify otherwise dismisses the expertise, professional standards, and dedication that define the profession"; and

Whereas, The Council on Social Work Education states that "excluding social work from professional degree eligibility...could make it more difficult for students to pursue graduate education in critical service professions"; and¹

Whereas, It is altogether fitting and proper for the Legislature of the State of New Jersey to urge the United States Department of Education to revise the definition of professional degree programs, as it applies to federal student loan programs, to include ¹[nursing]¹ degree programs ¹in education, nursing, physical therapy, dental hygiene, occupational therapy, social work, architecture, and accounting¹; now, therefore,

 

     Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):

 

     1.  The Legislature of the State of New Jersey respectfully urges the United States Department of Education to revise the definition of professional degree programs, as it applies to federal student loan programs, to include ¹[nursing]¹ degree programs ¹in education, nursing, physical therapy, dental hygiene, occupational therapy, social work, architecture, and accounting¹. 

 

     2.  Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to the President of the United States and the United States Secretary of Education.