12/04/2025
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated Statement on Department of Education’s Proposed Reclassification of Target Graduate Degrees
Washington, DC – (December 3, 2025) – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated expresses concern over the Department of Education’s proposed implementation guidelines under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would reclassify most healthcare, education, and social-service graduate degrees as “non-professional.” The reclassification approved under the One Big Beautiful Bill is set to take effect July 1, 2026. Under this new definition, students in programs no longer considered “professional” would face federal loan caps, thereby limiting vital funding sources sought by low-income and working-class students.
Under the proposed rules, only a narrow subset of programs—including theology—would retain “professional” status. Teaching and education degrees, physician assistant studies, nursing programs, physical and occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, audiology, social work, public health, counseling, and architecture degrees would all be reclassified as “non-professional.” Students in these fields would face sharply reduced federal borrowing limits of $20,500 annually, with a $100,000 lifetime cap.
“These are the very degrees that educate children, care for the sick and aging, and provide foundational social and behavioral health services across the nation,” said Dr. Stacie NC Grant, International President of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. “For generations, careers in nursing, teaching, counseling, social work, and public health have allowed African American women and other marginalized groups to build economic security while serving their communities with excellence. By limiting access to federal loans, this proposal threatens the country’s workforce, deepens inequities, and closes doors that our organization has fought to keep open for 105 years. We urge the Department of Education to reverse course and protect equitable access to the graduate programs that keep our nation strong.”
The elimination of graduate PLUS loans further removes the only federal mechanism through which graduate students could borrow the full cost of attendance, including tuition, clinical fees, certification expenses, books, transportation, and housing. “In effect, the redefinition of ‘professional’ degrees aims to push working-class, minoritized groups, and women out of healthcare and education specialties and further restrict access to the very graduate credentials required to enter or advance in these essential fields,” adds Dr. Grant.
For generations, careers in nursing, teaching, counseling, public health, and social work have served as critical vehicles of social mobility for low-income families, first-generation students, and African American women. These fields provide stable wages, leadership opportunities, and long-term career advancement. Restricting access to the required graduate degrees would disproportionately harm Black women and undermine progress toward equity in the health, education, and human-services sectors.
The proposal also contradicts urgent workforce needs. The nation faces acute shortages of nurses, mental-health providers, rehabilitation professionals, educators, and social workers—shortages that are projected to intensify over the next decade. Reducing access to graduate education in these disciplines would further deplete essential workforces, especially in rural, low-income, and underserved communities that rely heavily on advanced-practice nurses, school counselors, and public-health practitioners.
For 105 years, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated has championed scholarship, service, leadership, and Finer Womanhood for the advancement of Black women. The organization will continue advocating to ensure that federal policy expands—not restricts—access to the degrees that keep our communities educated, healthy, and thriving.
