Thanks to your incredible support, this petition has now surpassed 10,000 signatures!

Your voices are being heard, and this momentum is making a clear statement. Students, professionals, educators, and community members across the country do not want to see Social Work, Nursing, Counseling, Education, and other graduate level professional programs reclassified as non professional degrees.

Here is the current status:
The United States Department of Education is still drafting the proposed rule. The agency has confirmed that the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, often called the NPRM, is expected to be published early next year. Once that happens, there will be an official 30 day public comment period on Regulations dot gov. Comments submitted during that time become part of the formal record and must receive a response from the Department before the rule can move forward.

Because of your support, I will be submitting these 10000 signatures, along with a detailed and thorough public comment that describes how passionately we all feel regarding this proposed change, as soon as the comment period opens in January. This will ensure that our collective concerns are formally included in the review process.

Thank you for continuing to share this petition and for standing up for the integrity and professional status of these essential fields. Our next step is to stay alert for the NPRM release, and I will post another update once it becomes available.