AANA Issues Statement on Department of Education Final Rule on Student Loan Caps and Advanced Nursing Degrees

ROSEMONT, Ill., April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Statement from the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) President Jeff Molter, MSN, MBA, CRNA, on the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) final rule on student loan caps and advanced nursing degrees:

"AANA is deeply concerned by the consequences of the U.S. Department of Education's decision to limit federal student loan access for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and other advanced practice nursing degrees. This policy will have real and damaging effects at a time when demand for care is growing nationwide. The department acknowledges that nurse anesthesia programs meet the requirements for inclusion. However, it excludes future CRNAs based on a fundamental misunderstanding of physician supervision requirements and fails to consider the impact on the workforce and access to care.

Patients will ultimately bear the consequences of this policy as it constricts the anesthesia workforce pipeline, resulting in decreased access and longer delays for essential procedures such as cancer screenings, childbirth, and surgery. These impacts will be felt most acutely in rural and underserved communities where CRNAs are often the primary or sole anesthesia providers. The Department's final rule moves us in the wrong direction and reverses the Administration's prior recognition of the essential role CRNAs play in delivering safe, high-quality anesthesia care. This decision also ignores the data showing that CRNAs and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) provide one of the best returns on investments for federal loans, carrying the lowest debt-to-income ratio of any of the professional designated degrees, highest employment rates, and predicted growth for demand.

On average, students in doctoral-level nurse anesthetist programs will be forced to find more than $77,000 in additional private loans – funding that some will be unable to secure at all. The data is clear: 75% of prospective nurse anesthesia applicants said that education would no longer be financially feasible under the loan caps, and 80% were very concerned about securing private loans to complete their training. For many qualified nurses, that simply will not be an option.

AANA stands united with current and future CRNAs and the patients who depend on our profession and urges the Trump Administration and Congress to reconsider this approach and protect access to nurse anesthesia education and the care it makes possible."

SOURCE American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology