Dean Susan Stone co-authored a new opinion piece in The Sacramento Bee warning that proposed federal changes to student loan programs could deepen California’s shortages of teachers, social workers, nurses and public health professionals.
In the Feb. 28 op-ed, Stone and co-author Michelle D. Young, Dean of UC Berkeley School of Education, outline how a Jan. 30 proposal from the U.S. Department of Education would eliminate Federal Graduate PLUS loans and narrow eligibility for the “professional student” category. The changes, they argue, would restrict access to graduate training for careers that require advanced preparation, supervised clinical practice and licensure, including social work, teaching, nursing and public health.
“Federal policy does more than allocate dollars; it signals what the nation recognizes as a profession,” they write. By narrowing the definition of “professional student,” the proposal would “effectively declare that educators, social workers and public health professionals do not merit the same professional standing long afforded to other fields.”
Dean Stone and Dean Young note that nearly 6,800 UC graduate students borrowed $223 million in 2023–24, with most of that funding supporting professional degree students. Eliminating Graduate PLUS loans, they argue, would disproportionately affect first-generation and low-income students and disrupt workforce pipelines at a time when California faces rising behavioral health needs and persistent teacher shortages.
“This is not simply a higher education issue,” they write. “It is a public health and public education issue.”
Stone, Young and Michael C. Lu, Dean of UC Berkeley School of Public Health, urge policymakers to protect both the financial support and professional recognition of public service careers. The Department of Education is accepting public comments on the proposed rule changes through March 2.
Images: From left to right: Susan Stone, Michelle Young, Michael Lu.
Lower image of UC Merced graduation ceremony by Victor A. Patton