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

Scheduling note: WhatMatters is giving thanks for our readers and other blessings, and will return to your inboxes on Monday, Dec. 1.

Will a cap on student loans discourage Californians from becoming nurses? We may find out.

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

The U.S. Department of Education earlier this month wrapped up a rulemaking session 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 also creating what the department describes as the “new and simplified” Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP.

Under RAP, which will be available in July, the total federal debt cap for students in professional programs is $200,000 and $100,000 for other graduate students. The education department is proposing to define professional degrees as degrees in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, law, clinical psychology and other fields.

Nursing wouldn’t make the cut for the higher loan cap.

California faces a shortage of about 36,000 licensed nurses. The number of students opting 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 “limiting access to student loans … for aspiring nurses will only worsen this (shortage) crisis by undermining efforts to grow the workforce.”

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

• Sandy Reding, president of the California Nurses Association union: “Nurse practitioners currently provide much-needed primary care, particularly in rural and underserved areas. If this rule went into effect, it could have a major impact on nurses’ access to graduate nursing programs. In addition, it will make it more difficult 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 loan cap for nurses could be similar to what experts anticipate about Trump’s new student loan caps for medical students: That higher financial barriers for students to pursue certain degrees would make the pool of prospective health care workers both shrink and become less diverse.

The education department released a statement Monday arguing that 95% of nursing students already borrow below the loan limit and won’t be affected by the rule change. Ellen Keast, the department’s press secretary for higher education, also told Newsweek that the plan’s definition of professional degrees aligns with “historical precedent.”

• Keast: “We’re not surprised that some institutions are crying wolf over regulations that never existed because their unlimited tuition ride on the taxpayer dime is over.”

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

From CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang:

California ag 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 appeal court tossed its lawsuit against state labor regulators. 

The Tuesday decision by a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno leaves in place a new law backed by the United Farm Workers that was meant to help it gain members. The law allows farmworkers to signal their support for union representation using a signed card, bypassing the traditional in-person, secret-ballot election usually held on the employer’s property. 

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

Elizabeth Strater, United Farm Workers’ vice president, said the decision affirms that “every farm worker in California has rights under the law, and those rights need to be protected.” But the company’s general counsel Craig Cooper dismissed the ruling as only a matter of timing: “The decision explicitly does not address the merits of Wonderful Nurseries’ constitutional challenge.”

Let’s get into some immigration news:

• Student financial aid: The Trump administration is suing California to block its policy of offering in-state tuition, scholarships and loans to immigrant students who do not have legal status. Federal lawyers argue that California’s policy is unconstitutional, and violates a federal law that bars states from providing benefits to residents without legal status that aren’t also available to U.S. citizens who live anywhere in the U.S. An estimated 100,000 college students lack legal status in the state. California is the sixth state Trump is targeting of the more than 20 states that have some in-state tuition policy that benefits residents without legal status. The California Department of Justice said it is prepared to fight the lawsuit. Read more from CalMatters’ Adam Echelman and Mikhail Zinshteyn.

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

San Diego’s new $3.8-billion airport terminal opened with a larger concourse, local eateries and new routes. CalMatters’ Deborah Brennan and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on the new facility, which debuted as tourism has slowed in California, as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.