Nursing students gain equal federal loan benefits as doctors and lawyers
H.R. 8691 — Nursing is a Professional Degree Act · Filed by Jennifer Kiggans (R-VA) · 24 cosponsors · Introduced May 7, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends federal student loan law to explicitly recognize nursing degrees (Master of Science in Nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice, and related credentials) as 'professional degrees' for purposes of federal student aid eligibility and repayment programs. Currently, nursing is not listed in the federal definition, leaving graduate nursing students potentially ineligible for certain loan benefits available to law, medical, and pharmacy students.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to amend the federal definition of 'professional degree' to include nursing credentials, thereby extending existing federal student loan and repayment benefits to nursing graduate students on the same basis as law, medicine, and pharmacy students.
What the text implies
- Nursing graduates become eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and income-driven repayment plans (PAYE, REPAYE, IBR) if they meet other statutory criteria, potentially reducing lifetime loan repayment obligations for nurses in public service.
- The bill's clause (mm) — 'Any other degree that meets the requirements of subclause (I), as determined by the Secretary' — delegates to the Department of Education the power to recognize additional professional degrees beyond those listed, creating an open-ended expansion mechanism.
- Nursing programs may see increased enrollment if federal loan benefits reduce the effective cost of graduate education, potentially affecting program capacity and tuition pricing in the nursing education sector.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Nursing students gain access to federal student loan programs and income-driven repayment options (such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness) on equal footing with law and medical students, reducing barriers to graduate nursing education and potentially lowering the effective cost of advanced nursing degrees. The bill creates parity in federal student aid treatment across licensed health professions.
Who stands to gain
- graduate nursing students (reduced effective cost of education)
- nursing education institutions (potential enrollment increase)
Named in the bill
Department of Education, Higher Education Act of 1965, 34 CFR 668.2, nursing (MSN, DNP, DNAP, Ph.D.), Public Service Loan Forgiveness, income-driven repayment programs
Where it stands
24 cosponsors: 16 Republicans, 7 Democrats, 1 Independents.
- May 7, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 7, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
17 lobbying clients named this bill on 17 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $6,356,315 in lobbying spend. A filing names 27 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 96% of bills with at least one filing.
Jennifer Kiggans, the sponsor, reported $1,313,089 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Hospital Association — $4,470,000 on 1 filing
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners — $400,000 on 1 filing
- American Association of Nurse Anesthetists — $275,000 on 1 filing
- American Nurses Association — $270,000 on 1 filing
- University of Rochester — $220,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,363 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 22, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
- H.R. 8691 on Congress.gov
- Actions and status history
- Cosponsors (24)
- Bill text the analysis read
- American Hospital Association — LDA filing, 2026 Q2
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners — LDA filing, 2026 Q2
- American Association of Nurse Anesthetists — LDA filing, 2026 Q2
- Jennifer Kiggans — FEC candidate receipts, 2026 cycle
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