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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A federal reclassification of nursing graduate programs has educators worried about how the change could affect students’ access to financial aid in a field already struggling with staffing shortages.

The U.S. Department of Education clarified that “professional degree” is a loan-related category used to determine federal borrowing limits. The designation, the department says, has no connection to the quality of a program or its value in the workforce.

Barbara White, Chief Nurse Administrator at Indiana University South Bend, said the shift effectively moves nursing out of a higher loan-funding tier.

“Nursing is no longer in the tier of the extra funding,

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