Nevada ranks among the states with the biggest nursing shortages.

A rule change put forth by the U.S. Department of Education would cut federal student loans for nurses by more than two-thirds.

The change is not a foregone conclusion, and an online petition to stop the change has almost 200,000 signatures.

A Trump administration change in how the word “professional” is defined could worsen Nevada’s already significant nursing shortage.

“There's the potential that this will impact between 25% to 35% of graduate nurses here at UNR who are financing their education in part with federal student loans,” said Charles Yingling, dean of the Orvis School of Nursing at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The U.S. Department of Education recently reverted to the definition of “professional” as used

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