.png?lang=en-US&ext=.png){kind=logo}
.png?lang=en-US&ext=.png){kind=logo}
News
Under the proposed rule, social work would no longer meet the professional degree criteria, creating significant financial barriers for students. This change comes amid growing demand for social workers in behavioral health, child welfare, education, and community services—sectors already facing severe workforce shortages.
CSWE and the Social Work Leadership Roundtable are advocating to ensure social work retains its professional degree status and continued access to federal financial aid.
Across the United States, social workers are vital to child welfare, behavioral health, schools, healthcare, and community systems––sectors already facing critical workforce shortages. In fact, professional social workers make up the largest segment of the mental health workforce in the United States. Reclassifying social work as a non-professional degree would further strain these systems through limiting students’ access to the federal loans needed to pursue an education, weaken public systems and increase taxpayer costs.
If fewer students can afford to earn a Master of Social Work (MSW), workforce shortages will deepen. Agencies will face higher recruitment and turnover costs, reduced continuity of care, and increased reliance on costly contract labor. Shortages of clinicians providing therapy, crisis intervention, school-based services, substance use treatment, and community-based care will grow—resulting in longer wait times and diminished access to culturally responsive services, particularly in rural, low-income, and underserved communities. To strengthen, not weaken, the behavioral health workforce, DOE must include social work in the final definition of professional degrees. Maintaining appropriate federal loan access for MSW students and expanding federal funding opportunities that make social work education attainable are essential to upholding a strong and effective workforce.
Equally important is strengthening pathways into social work education, including expanding access to federal grants, training programs, and loan repayment opportunities, is essential to ensuring an equitable and diverse workforce. Access to essential funding streams such as Pell Grants, the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) scholarship and loan repayment initiatives, and other federal supports, must be strengthened and expanded, not constrained.
Signed by the Members of the Social Work Leadership Roundtable:
Published on : January 29, 2026
On Friday, January 30, the U.S. Department of Education released their final proposed rule defining what constitutes a "professional degree." Their definition does not include social work, which has historically been recognized as a professional degree.CSWE Members, We Need Your Voice
The Department of Education (DOE) has updated its definition of “professional degrees,” a classification that determines federal student loan eligibility for graduate programs. Historically, social work has been recognized as a professional degree, allowing MSW students to access federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans and other critical funding.Under the proposed rule, social work would no longer meet the professional degree criteria, creating significant financial barriers for students. This change comes amid growing demand for social workers in behavioral health, child welfare, education, and community services—sectors already facing severe workforce shortages.
CSWE and the Social Work Leadership Roundtable are advocating to ensure social work retains its professional degree status and continued access to federal financial aid.
What can you do?
We are encouraging all CSWE members to leave a comment on the proposed rule at Regulations.gov.How to submit comments
- Visit this page
- Click “Comment” and upload or paste your response. Include in your comment:
- A personal or institutional experience (e.g., teaching, supervising students, practicing, or hiring social workers).
- Insist that social work be included in the definition of professional degrees.
- Explain how reduced loan access would affect MSW students and affordability, workforce shortages in mental and behavioral health, access to services in rural and underserved communities
- Share your comment across your social media networks! CSWE has prepared a Social Media Toolkit you can use to easily share this information with your networks. We are encouraging everyone to join us in a day of action on Feb. 11 by posting the content included in that toolkit on your own social media channels.
- Encourage colleagues to join in submitting their comments to the DOE, as well. If you post on any social media network, please use the hashtag #SocialWorkIsAProfession
Has CSWE submitted a public comment?
Yes. You can read CSWE's comment here.
What else has CSWE done regarding this issue?
CSWE has been deeply engaged in this issue since the summer of 2025 when negotiated rulemaking began. We have:
- Submitted formal comments to U.S. Department of Education (DOE)
- Testified during DOE listening sessions
- Partnered with the Federation of Associations of Schools of Health Professions (FASHP) to urge the use of Health Professions CIP codes
- Engaged congressional champions, including:
- Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman (D-NJ)
- Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI)
- Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
- Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX)
- Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)
- Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA)
- Coordinated with member institutions to gather data and impact statements
- Communicated concerns in public statements
- Responded to DOE's new proposed definition of a "professional" degree
- Participated in virtual Hill day sessions
- Affirmed our support of the proposed LEAP Act
Statement from the Social Work Leadership Roundtable
Together, the organizations representing the Social Work Leadership Roundtable urge the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to include social work in its proposed definition of professional degrees. This reclassification is not a matter of semantics. This decision is far more than a semantic distinction—it carries significant consequences for students, communities, and public systems nationwide.Across the United States, social workers are vital to child welfare, behavioral health, schools, healthcare, and community systems––sectors already facing critical workforce shortages. In fact, professional social workers make up the largest segment of the mental health workforce in the United States. Reclassifying social work as a non-professional degree would further strain these systems through limiting students’ access to the federal loans needed to pursue an education, weaken public systems and increase taxpayer costs.
If fewer students can afford to earn a Master of Social Work (MSW), workforce shortages will deepen. Agencies will face higher recruitment and turnover costs, reduced continuity of care, and increased reliance on costly contract labor. Shortages of clinicians providing therapy, crisis intervention, school-based services, substance use treatment, and community-based care will grow—resulting in longer wait times and diminished access to culturally responsive services, particularly in rural, low-income, and underserved communities. To strengthen, not weaken, the behavioral health workforce, DOE must include social work in the final definition of professional degrees. Maintaining appropriate federal loan access for MSW students and expanding federal funding opportunities that make social work education attainable are essential to upholding a strong and effective workforce.
Equally important is strengthening pathways into social work education, including expanding access to federal grants, training programs, and loan repayment opportunities, is essential to ensuring an equitable and diverse workforce. Access to essential funding streams such as Pell Grants, the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) scholarship and loan repayment initiatives, and other federal supports, must be strengthened and expanded, not constrained.
Signed by the Members of the Social Work Leadership Roundtable:
- Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Programs (BPD)
- Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
- Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
- Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work (GADE)
- Grand Challenges of Social Work
- National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work (NADD)
- National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW)
- National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
- Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
- Social Work Collective to Advance Research (SCoAR)