California nurses call Trump’s student loan cap an ‘attack’ on the profession

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Will curbing student loans discourage Californians from becoming nurses? We might find out.

The Trump administration is proposing to cap the amount of money nursing students can borrow to further their education, raising concerns that the change could potentially worsen California’s nursing shortage.

U.S. Department of Education earlier this month rule creation session ended ironing out details about new federal student loan rules from President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget bill that passed in July.

The bill eliminates two loan programs — one of which is Grad PLUS loans, a type of federal student aid for graduate students — while creating what the department describes as “new and simplified” Repayment Assistance Plan or RAP.

Under the RAP, which will be available in July, the total federal debt ceiling for students in vocational programs is $200,000 and $100,000 for other students. The Ministry of Education proposes to determine professional degrees such as degrees in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, law, clinical psychology and other fields.

Breastfeeding would not make the cut for the higher loan cap.

California faces a shortage of approx 36,000 licensed nurses. The number of students who chose to attend private, more expensive nursing programs in California is also rising. In a statement to CalMatters, the University of California, which has four nursing schools, said “restricting access to student loans … for nursing candidates will only exacerbate this (shortage) crisis by undermining efforts to grow the workforce.”

The reduced loan cap would also make it harder for nursing students to become nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists or other positions that require advanced degrees. breastfeeding organizations they argue.

• Sandy Reddingpresident of the California Nurses Association union: “Nurse practitioners currently provide much-needed primary care, especially in rural and underserved areas. If this rule goes into effect, it could have a major impact on nurses’ access to graduate nursing programs. It will also make it harder to find nursing faculty with advanced degrees to teach in nursing programs. We want to be clear that this is an attack on the nursing profession.”

The effect of the proposed nursing loan cap could be similar to what experts expect for Trump’s new student medical student loan caps: That higher financial barriers for students to pursue certain degrees would cause the pool of future healthcare workers to shrink and become less diverse.

Education Department published a statement Monday, arguing that 95 percent of nursing students already borrow below the loan limit and would not be affected by the rule change. Ellen Keast, spokeswoman for the higher education department, also said Newsweek that the professional degree plan definition is consistent with “historical precedent.”

• Select: “We are not surprised that some institutions are crying foul about regulations that never existed as their unlimited training on the taxpayer dime has ended.”

The department said it plans to finalize student loan rules by early next year.

From Jeanne Kuang of CalMatters:

California giant The Wonderful Company suffered a setback in its bid to overturn a new law that some of its workers had used to unionize when an appeals court threw out its case against state labor regulators.

Tuesday’s ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Fresno upheld a new law backed by the United Farm Workers that was supposed to help the organization win members. The law allows agricultural workers to express their support for union representation using a signed card, bypassing the traditional in-person vote with a secret ballot usually held on the employer’s property.

The Wonderful Company sued the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board last year, trying to overturn the law. The lawsuit, which claims the law is unconstitutional, came after the United Farm Workers filed a petition with enough signatures to represent about 600 workers at the company’s grape nursery in Wasco.

Elizabeth Strater, vice president of the United Farm Workers, said the ruling reaffirms that “every farmworker in California has rights under the law, and those rights must be protected.” But the company’s general counsel, Craig Cooper, dismissed the decision as just a matter of time: “The decision expressly does not address the merits of Wonderful Nurseries’ constitutional challenge.”

Let’s get into some immigration news:

• Financial aid for students: The Trump administration is suing California to block its policy of offering in-state tuition, scholarships and loans to undocumented immigrant students. Federal lawyers say California’s policy is unconstitutional and violates a federal law that prohibits states from providing benefits to undocumented residents that are not available to U.S. citizens living anywhere in the United States. Approximately 100,000 students do not have legal status in the state. California is the sixth state Trump has targeted out of more than 20 states that have some kind of in-state tuition policy that benefits undocumented residents. The California Department of Justice said it was prepared to fight the case. Read more by Adam Echelman and Mikhail Zinstein of CalMatters.

• Arrests in ICE Checks: A routine check with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led to the detention of a San Diego pedicure driver — a situation advocates say more immigrants are experiencing under Trump’s immigration crackdown. In 2022, Idris Demirtas sought asylum in the US after fleeing Turkey to escape religious persecution. He received a five-year work permit and has no criminal record, according to his wife and lawyers. Last week, federal immigration agents arrested Demirtas in federal court in San Diego, where he was ordered to appear for registration. He is now being held at a detention center, and ICE did not respond to a request for comment on why Dimitras was arrested or why he is still being held. Read more by Wendy Fry of CalMatters.

San Diego’s new $3.8 billion airport terminal has opened with a larger facility, local dining options and new routes. CalMatters’ Deborah Brennan and Director of Video Strategy Robert Meeks have a video segment about the new facility, which debuted as tourism slowed in Californiaas part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58pm weekdays on PBS SoCal.