Ottawa, ON – November 27, 2025 – The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) expresses concern regarding the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to exclude nursing education from its definition of professional degree programs. This policy shift comes at a time when health systems worldwide are grappling with unprecedented nursing shortages and escalating patient care demands.

“CASN stands with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the American Nurses Association, and other nursing organizations in the United States,” said Dr. Suzanne Harrison, CASN President. “This shortsighted policy shift risks undermining access to affordable nursing education and increasing the precarity of existing health human resources and the health of individuals and communities across the United States.”

Why This Matters

Nursing is a professional discipline and the cornerstone of safe, quality health care. Advanced education equips nurses with the knowledge, judgement, and skills essential for improving patient outcomes, navigating complex health systems, and ensuring robust education of the next generation of nurses. Removing nursing from the professional degree category jeopardizes students’ ability to pursue graduate studies, limiting opportunities for specialization and advanced practice roles that are critical for meeting current and future population health needs.

Investing in nursing education and advanced practice roles strengthens health systems. Evidence consistently shows that reducing educational opportunities for nurses leads to poorer health outcomes and increased mortality. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical role of advanced practice nurses in safeguarding public health. The proposed policy change from the U.S. Department of Education disregards these lessons and weakens preparedness for future health crises.

An Issue of Inclusion and Equity

This decision disproportionately affects women and racialized groups. Nursing is one of the largest women-majority professions globally, and restricting access to graduate education perpetuates systemic gender inequities in professional advancement, leadership representation, and economic mobility. Furthermore, socio-economic status (SES) in the United States exists along a racial gradient, limiting access to advanced education by those with lower SES. Thus, the Department’s decision will create unnecessary and harmful barriers for racialized people. At a time when global health leadership is striving for gender and racial equity, this policy undermines decades of progress and risks widening the gap in health care leadership roles that are traditionally dominated by white men.

Call to Action

CASN calls on the U.S. Department of Education to reinstate post-baccalaureate nursing programs within its definition of professional degree programs. Doing so will:

• safeguard the future of nursing as a professional discipline;
• facilitate equitable access to education for a profession of predominantly white women;
• strengthen health systems for the challenges ahead.

“Nursing meets all criteria for a professional discipline. Despite being presented as an internal definition used by the U.S. Department of Education to distinguish among programs that qualify for higher loan limits, this policy change that excludes nursing from professional degree status undermines health equity, gender and racial equity, and patient safety,” said Dr. Jean Daniel Jacob, CASN Executive Director. “CASN stands united with our U.S. colleagues and global partners in urging immediate action to review its position.”

About the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing

The Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) is the national voice for nursing education, research, and scholarship, representing baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs across Canada. CASN’s mission is to lead nursing education and nursing scholarship in the interest of healthier Canadians.

For more information, please contact us.

Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing
Telephone: (613) 235-3150
Email: press@casn.ca
Website: www.casn.ca