Back when Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States of America, he promised to get rid of the Department of Education(DOE). Recently, changes were made through the “Big Beautiful Bill” issued by Trump. One of the most controversial issues is the “professional vs. unprofessional degrees.” While it may seem as a mere title change it affects the borrowing amount that people will be able to take out for student loans. This will affect students from lower incomes who want higher education depending on the major they are choosing to pursue. Professional degrees affected include: nursing, education, dental hygiene, occupational therapy, social work, architecture, and accounting. How these changes affect them will be decreasing the original $200,000 eligible loan limit for high-cost programs down to $100,000 for other graduate or doctorate degrees. But these should not affect the undergraduate degrees.
With these issues in mind the biggest question is, how greatly will these changes affect and even change the majors and career choices of the seniors that will follow. Our counselors’ past information on the pathways may not be able to give exact information on the effects of changes, but using it we can infer possible effects.
“I think this could play a part in the decision-making process for students as they consider their plans for college. 50 percent of West’s graduating class last year reported they were matriculating to a 4-year college. Of that number, we do not know how many students will pursue graduate degrees and it is difficult to tell if the funding limits would create a significant barrier. The professional vs. nonprofessional degree designation does not seem to diminish the degree one is pursuing, but I would need to do further research,” counselor Sean Sandag said.
Lots of student’s pathways into the future can be affected if they rely on these loans. So, due to the sudden changes, those with lower incomes may struggle to find an alternative to reach higher education.
“I’m from North Forsyth, so a lot of my friends and myself would have to rely on financial aid and loans to get through college, because of this we’re going to be struggling a lot more to get our degree, and what we want to pursue.” senior Erik Monroe said.
Along with the students’ concerns, one question comes up. Could our school’s services be affected? For upperclassmen that will be an unlikely worry.
“I do not think any of the services we provide in Student Services will be significantly impacted. Decisions for students are personal and different for everyone. I take a holistic approach with students concerning their plans for the future, there is just more information students will need to consider in planning the big picture now,” Sandag said.
An emotion that commonly emerges from these changes is anger. Some students might even have to change their entire life plan because the new titles to graduate degrees affect how they breeze through college life.
“This is just a really dumb change in general. It’s like they’re trying to keep us from getting a higher level of education. America wants to be the land of the free when no one here is free. Everyone is either poor or not rich, or middle class. This would affect us all, and we’re all getting hurt by this” said Monroe.
With these issues in mind, an average high school graduate will likely not deal with any issues surrounding the changes to the D.O.E. Yet if you are a graduate whose hopeful degree would have been dependent on the monetary support given by it being considered a “professional” degree, you should look into the possibilities and consider talking with your counselor.
