Make Your Impact: Advocate for Nursing!

Attention Members,

To ensure the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses (ISPN) members make a decisive impact on federal education policy, please complete the following two high-priority action items by their respective deadlines:

Action Item 1:

Final Push for Congressional Sign-on

Deadline: February 25

We must urge our Senators and Representatives to sign the bipartisan letter drafted by Senator Merkley and Representatives Kiggans and Bonamici. This letter opposes the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) proposal to declassify nursing as a “professional degree,” which would significantly reduce federal loan limits for graduate nursing education.

Task: Contact your elected officials to share your personal story on why nursing is a professional degree and vital to the nation's health.
How to do it: *Find your officials via Find and contact elected officials|USAGov.
Instruct Congressional staff to sign on using this Quill link.
Simpler Alternative: You may also use the NLN link (National League for Nursing) to streamline your outreach. Click the ACT NOW section heading.

Action Item 2:

Submit Formal Public Comments to the ED

Deadline: March 2

Despite previous bipartisan pressure, the ED’s proposed rule submitted on January 30 still excludes nursing from the professional degree list. We have until March 2 to submit formal public comments to reverse this decision.

Task: Submit a formal comment to the Department of Education expressing professional opposition to the rule change.
Key Argument: Emphasize that removing nursing from the list of professionals devalues the expertise of baccalaureate-prepared nurses and creates financial barriers to advanced practice.
The Goal: Every comment is a recorded piece of evidence that the bill must be revised to recognize nursing as the profession it is.

Instructions:

Go to: Regulations.gov (Docket ED-2025-OPE-0944).
Copy and Paste: Use the template below. Bolded brackets [ ] indicate areas where you should insert your specific details.
Submit Comment by: March 2, 2026

Download Template

Thank you for lending your voice to support nursing.

Together, we are making an impact!

ISPN

4300 Duraform Lane, Suite A, Windsor, WI 53598

Email:info@ISPN-psych.org

Phone: 608-443-2463

www.ispn-psych.org