The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is accepting comments
about its update to the definition of “professional degrees,” which determines
federal student loan eligibility for graduate programs. This proposed rule
would impact social workers, counselors and some types of nurses. By no longer
meeting the criteria for “professional degrees”, they would experience
significant financial barriers to their education. This would, in turn,
exacerbate the behavioral healthcare workforce shortage, which is an especially
dire situation as the demand for services continues to increase.
Click here
for details on the issue and to submit comments, which are due March 2.
Click here
for additional details specific to social workers, as well as advocacy
guidelines, a toolkit and social media tags that the Council on Social Work
Education shared.
