By Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO, Futuro Health

Over the past five years at Futuro Health, I have watched thousands of our Scholars step into healthcare through allied health roles — Medical Assistants, Phlebotomists, Sterile Processing Technicians, Community Health Workers and more. For many, allied health is not the final destination. It’s often the first rung on a ladder toward a career in nursing, advanced clinical, or other higher-level credentials. Justice J. and Carsyn P. are just two of many Futuro Health Scholars who aspire to advance in their careers by becoming RNs. Their journeys, which began in allied health, were recently featured in a BBC documentary presented by the International Council for Nurses. Their stories are a powerful reminder of how critical these pathways can be. You can watch their inspirational stories here.

Recent reports in the news highlight a troubling shift that could make that healthcare career ladder harder to climb: the federal government’s decision to remove nursing from the list of recognized “professional degrees.” This technical change has sweeping consequences. Graduate-level nursing students — pursuing MSN, DNP, NP or similar paths — will now face dramatically lower federal borrowing limits. The generous caps that once recognized nursing as essential to the nation’s workforce have been replaced with a ceiling of $20,500 per year and a lifetime maximum of $100,000. Even more concerning, the Grad PLUS loan program, which thousands of nurses relied on to bridge tuition and living costs during clinical training, is being phased out for these programs.

The impact is immediate and deeply inequitable. Advanced nursing education may simply become unaffordable for working adults, single parents, career changers, and those from low-income or underrepresented communities. These are the very people who have historically used allied health roles as steppingstones to upward mobility. When financing collapses, the pathway collapses with it.

That worries me, because at Futuro Health we have seen firsthand how powerful these pathways can be. Many Futuro Health Scholars (like Justice and Carsyn) begin as MAs or CHWs, gain confidence and income, and later pursue LVN-to-RN bridges, BSN programs, or behavioral health degrees — each step transforming their careers and their families’ futures. Allied health roles work as launch pads. They bring talented people into the system, help them build experience, and prepare them for more advanced roles.

But if the federal ruling signals that nursing is no longer treated as a profession worthy of investment, we risk discouraging people not only from pursuing advanced degrees — but from entering allied health altogether. Without clear, affordable next steps, early-career roles may feel like dead ends rather than ladders.

Since our 2020 launch, throughout the pandemic – and every workforce challenge since – Futuro Health has stayed focused on expanding opportunities: tuition-free or low-cost training, flexible schedules, coaching, and partnerships that lead to real jobs. We will continue doing that, because the future of healthcare depends on widening, not narrowing, the pathway for those who want to serve.

This is a moment that calls for courage and collaboration. Let’s work together — policy leaders, educators, employers, and communities — to keep pathways intact that allow working adults to advance in their careers. The future of our healthcare workforce depends on the decisions we make today. We owe it to every aspiring caregiver to keep each important step of the ladder intact and ensure the climb is still possible.