Resolution 251094

..Title Condemning the Trump Administration for jeopardizing the stability of the healthcare workforce in the City of Philadelphia. ..Body WHEREAS, President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Act" has altered federal definitions of "professional" graduate programs, determining which degrees qualify for higher federal loan limits; and WHEREAS, This reclassification excludes numerous fields that have historically been recognized as professional and that are indispensable to public health and community wellbeing, including: nursing, physician assistant studies, physical therapy, audiology, education, social work, and related healthcare disciplines; and WHEREAS, Graduate students pursuing degrees no longer classified as professional will be capped at lower borrowing levels under the Repayment Assistance Plan, making their programs significantly more expensive and less accessible; and WHEREAS, Restricting access to advanced degrees in nursing, therapy, clinical support, and social services will inevitably discourage enrollment, shrink academic pipelines, and deepen workforce shortages across the medical and human service sectors; and WHEREAS, Philadelphia relies on a robust healthcare workforce to ensure hospital capacity, primary and preventative care, school-based health care, elder care, disability support, reproductive health access, and emergency response stability; and WHEREAS, The American Nurses Association, professional education bodies, and workforce experts have raised urgent alarm regarding the projected national decline in qualified nurses, educators, and allied health professionals if these pending loan restrictions remain in place; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby strongly condemns the Trump Administration's reclassification of essential graduate degrees as non-professional, and denounces the resulting financial barriers that will inevitably reduce the healthcare workforce in the City. ..End