When nurses cannot afford to advance

Christopher Friese, a University of Michigan professor of nursing and of health management and policy, is a national authority on health care quality, nursing work environments and workforce policy.

Friese joins the Michigan Minds podcast to explain how proposed federal caps on graduate student loans could shape nurses’ education and career decisions, what high student debt is revealing about the nursing workforce, and why these policies may have ripple effects for patient care and the future supply of nurse practitioners, midwives, anesthetists and nursing faculty.

What makes loan caps on borrowing for graduate nursing degrees different?

We are worried about caps on loans for graduate nurses for a couple of reasons. Our study, the Michigan Nurses Study, identified that about a third of registered nurses have substantial levels of debt to begin with. If you already are carrying a lot of debt, imagine trying to advance your career in nursing—that usually means you have to go back for a graduate degree—and then you’re facing an even higher bill.

What we are worried about is that these proposed caps will deter people from even thinking about graduate school. They will just decide, 'I'm not going to pursue graduate school.' And that is bad for the country, because advanced practice nurses and the future faculty that train nursing students do a tremendous amount for our health care system. If we cut off this supply route for graduate nurses, we are worried about health care outcomes and the future of nursing education.

Michigan Minds is produced by Greta Guest and hosted by Michigan News staff. Jeremy Marble is the audio engineer and Hans Anderson provides social media animations.

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