The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) joined the Advanced Professional Workforce Alliance (APWA) coalition letter with close to 45 organizations commenting with serious concern to the Department of Education around its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which includes a proposed change to the definition of what counts as a professional degree consistent with the Reimagining and Improving Student Education (RISE) Negotiated Rulemaking Committee recommendation. AHCA/NCAL also submitted its own comments to the NPRM.
If this rule is finalized, certain types of health practitioner degrees, such as those for being an advanced practice nurse or physical or occupational therapist, would be excluded from the professional degree determination, which would significantly and adversely impact loan amounts. Over 75,000 national organizations, providers and others, provided comments to the Education Department with feedback and concerns.
AHCA/NCAL will keep its members informed of any updates on this matter.