The administration has decided that some professions aren’t really professions. Nancy Bailey explains what some of that means. Reposted with permission.
On this Thanksgiving, please remember the professionals who lift us throughout our lives. The helpers in the caring professions, nurses, teachers, counselors, speech-language pathologists, and many others (see below), irreplaceable by AI, find themselves in danger of losing their professional status.
Donald Trump talks about bringing in foreign workers, while his administration is slighting those who are already here by de-professionalizing their work.
This professional reclassification will cap student loan borrowing, making it harder for students in need to complete college. Those who want to be America’s helpers, whom we rely on, will receive less financial support and see their professional status deflate. Americans will suffer due to this boondoggle, and we can certainly add that this is definitely NOT making America great again.
The U.S. ED, what’s left of it, under the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), and Linda McMahon, a leader with no pertinent educational degree or experience, are ending the professional status of helping careers.
The Department of Education’s Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Committee released an explanation:
Under President Trump’s OBBBA, the Department’s rulemaking will eliminate the Grad PLUS program, which has fueled unsustainable student loan borrowing, cap Parent PLUS Loans, sunset the confusing maze of student loan repayment plans created by the Obama and Biden Administrations, and create a new and simplified Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). Beginning in July 2026, the OBBBA caps annual loans for new borrowers at $20,500 for graduate students ($100,000 aggregate limit), and $50,000 for professional students ($200,000 aggregate limit) – a term the committee defined consistent with existing regulatory text. Previously, graduate students could borrow up to the cost of attendance, which led institutions to offer expensive graduate programs with a negative return on investment.
Note the last sentence: “expensive programs with a negative return on investment.” This statement disparages the critical work of those who help people. They aren’t easy jobs, and those who study for these positions already face a lack of pay commensurate with the work that they do.
Now, many will turn to away from these careers if they don’t believe they have the financial support to complete their college education, or if they believe the work will not be considered professional. If university programs to prepare these individuals are put out of reach, made unaffordable, it’s the consumer who ultimately suffers.
Most of these critical professional areas already face shortages and these will increase in the years to come.
Here’s the list:
- Education. Think of a country where those who teach have no degrees, no expertise. Anyone can teach the way they want even if it’s wrong information. What and how will students learn? How will this set students back?
- Counseling. How will counselors who have never learned how to address social, psychological, or personal difficulties be effective?
- Nursing (MSN, DNP, BSN programs). Imagine showing up at the emergency room with no one to help before the doctor arrives? How will the neonatal or surgical nurses be prepared to carry out the myriad of tasks nurses perform to adjust the kind of care for your or your loved one’s comfort. Where would the country be if we had not had professional nurses during COVID?
- Physician assistant (PA). With advanced degrees, PAs work with patients of all ages addressing specialty and primary care areas. They diagnose and treat common illnesses and working with minor procedures.
- Public health (MPH, DrPH). Not prioritizing the education of public health professionals who help protect our communities from disease, watch for problems like pandemics, and implement vaccination programs and food and water safety sets up a dangerous situation.
- Occupational therapy. Without occupational therapists help those with disabilities or who are recovering from debilitating injuries or illnesses in their lives to live independently.
- Physical therapy. Easing pain and returning people to a functional life is a large part of physical therapy in areas such as cardiac and pulmonary issues, geriatric and pediatric difficulties, sports and many more.
- Audiology. Diagnosing and evaluating auditory processing/listening difficulties, the need for cochlear implants, bone-anchored hearing implants, dizziness issues involving vertigo and imbalance, hearing and hearing aid fitting and repair, tinnitus (ringing in the ear), are a part of audiology.
- Speech-language pathology. Assessing, diagnosing, and treating speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults is a part of speech and language pathology. Stroke survivors or those with dementia might need intensive speech and language therapy for help communicating.
- Social work (MSW, DSW). Social workers help individuals, families, and communities connect with vital services and they deal with crisis situations involving child abuse, mental health, and domestic problems. They work in hospitals, schools, and mental health clinics, and address poverty, mental illness, substance abuse, and physical abuse.
There is no reason to end the professional status of careers that have professional duties. Instead there should be an investigation into ways to make college affordable for capable students who desire careers in these areas. Accessibility to such careers should be elevated, not diminished.
Leaders should be recruiting individuals to attend great universities to learn the best way to serve all who may need these critical services, constantly doing research and learning the best practices.
De-professionalizing these careers is backwards. It turns away those interested in such work, increasing shortages that already exist. The current administration is destroying the fabric of America and the services that all of us depend on.
On this Thanksgiving, I thank all those in the professions listed above that I or my loved ones have relied upon, and I hope that eventually this is turned around to lift the helpers, those who take care of us in this great nation.