The Department of Education has plans to redefine what constitutes a professional degree which would exclude nursing and limit access to student loans from the Graduate PLUS loan program. At a time when health care in our country faces a historic nursing shortage, limiting nurses' access to funding for graduate education threatens the very foundation of patient care and is not a solution.

The government defines our retirement age from 62 to 67 – but that is based on the Social Security monthly check. One’s Retirement Age is...