Positive News about Federal Student Loans

Dear Columbia Nursing Community,

I write with promising news for our nation’s nursing community. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) just announced that in response to a federal court order, most postbaccalaureate nursing programs will not be subject, for the time being, to an ED rule issued in April that capped federal student loans at a much lower rate than for programs deemed to be “professional” in nature; the rule had been set to go into effect on July 1.

The announcement was made on June 29 in response to a June 23 court order blocking the ED rule. The court order resulted from legal action taken by a broad coalition of higher education and health care organizations, including the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The hold on the new loan caps is temporary, as litigation on the matter proceeds.

This means that students in MSN and DNP programs—plus more than a dozen degrees in other fields, such as physical therapy—are, on an interim basis, included on the ED list of programs deemed professional. We are in the process of assessing how this stay will impact our students and we will communicate with those who are impacted as we learn more.

We will also continue to support the national organizations fighting this legal battle on our behalf; the outpouring on the issue from the organizations that represent nursing and from the public was extremely gratifying. And we will continue to update you as the situation evolves.

This moment shows that nursing’s impact is widely valued, that many organizations and individuals have our backs, and that nurses will continue to stand up for what we believe is right.

I wish you all a relaxing and rewarding Fourth of July: you deserve it!

Sincerely, 

Lorraine Frazier, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean, Columbia University School of Nursing
Mary O’Neil Mundinger Professor of Nursing
Senior Vice President, Columbia University Irving Medical Center