Making America Dumber: Architecture no longer considered a "professional degree" in US

[Coventina]

Loans available to architecture students in the USA will be reduced under the terms of president Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, as architecture will not be considered a professional degree.

Under the terms of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the provision of student loans in the USA will be overhauled starting 1 July, 2026, with borrowing amounts set to be determined by whether a degree is considered professional or not.

Architecture not a "professional degree"

Architects, along with several careers including other nursing and accounting, will not be considered as "professional degrees", a move that was criticised by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

"The American Institute of Architects strongly opposes any proposal or policy that fails to recognize architects as professionals, particularly when designating which degrees qualify for student loan caps," said the AIA in a statement.

https://www.dezeen.com/2025/11/24/architecture-degree-not-professional-usa/

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Even Ronnie Ray-gun would be embarrassed over this.

[canetoad]

1. Don't need a crystal ball

To guess that trump has a lifetime history of run-ins with architects who insist on stupid things like regulations, standards, engineering and integrity.

[GReedDiamond]

14. Yes. They also prefer being paid...

...for their services, which preznit asshole doesn't like doing.

[tanyev]

15. Good point. He really hates people that say "No" to him.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

2. WHAT is considered professional??!! Social work, Counseling require masters degrees. Respiratory & Physical Therapists

Require even more schooling. Also ARNPs require almost as much as MD’s and those apparently are being re-classified.

[Attilatheblond]

3. The making of mega fortunes without actually creating product or jobs will be the ONLY 'profession' per Trump donors

People won't have dreams of improving their lives, serving the greater public, or just wanting to have their education and good work acknowledged by society. The ultra rich want peasants, underpaid servants (who are currently PROFESSIONALS), slaves who will put up with limitless abuse. They want all the $ and out of having to pay professionals for professional services they require.

The US future the ultra rich want and are working for will result in:

All the toilets in the nation backing up due to no educated/trained plumbers

Buildings will be slapped together by fools with delusions of being builders but having no education/training

People will be dying en masse in overcrowded hospitals or alone at home due to no educated/trained nurses & support staff

Law enforcement will be a relic of the past as will firefighters

People who we currently acknowledge as PROFESSIONALS, people who are educated and trained in their fields will be competing with hacks, amateurs, and snake oil hustlers and the public will be harmed in all areas of business

and that's just off the top of my head. Feel free to add to my list.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. Listen up, all you who are now "non-professionals"!

RISE UP! Call your senators and congresscritters and let them know you will not take this lying down, not even sitting down! Burn their ears off! Tie up their phone lines! If you can"t get anyone this week, which is possible seeing as how there's a holiday coming up, start up again on Monday. Let them know, on behalf of all the future nurses, architects, accountants, physical therapists, PAs, social workers, and educators, that WE ARE PROFESSIONALS AND WE WANT THEM TO BE TOO! And don't take no for an answer.

[Silent Type]

5. They'll backtrack on this, nurses, etc.

[B.See]

6. Well, Trump himself said he loves the poorly educated.

So, his attacks on education are NOT by happenstance. If he had his way about it, EVERYONE would be just as proudly and arrogantly IGNORANT as he.

[Hobo]

7. They are screwing

The engineers also. Just to save some money on loans. Unforgivable

[Ping Tung]

8. Well, we still have very chic Pink Houses

?list=RDqOfkpu6749w

[NeoTrajan]

9. Isn't Architecture among the most esteemed, most 'professional' degrees to acquire?

I can recite numerous architects among the world's greatest artists of all time

He's/they're such dumb fucks

[Coventina]

11. Yes

Michelangelo

Louis Henry Sulllivan (Invented the skyscraper, without which, Trump would be nobody)

Le Corbusier (Invented modern architecture)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (Invented International Modernism)

Eero Saarinen

Frank Gehry (Love him or hate him, he has to be reckoned with)

Frank Lloyd Wright (Our greatest American architect)

Trump and his cronies put together couldn't begin to approach any one of these guys.

[canetoad]

12. Yes

Don't know about the US, but to register as an architect here in Oz, one must have completed both a bachelor's and master's degree. What's not 'professional' about that?

[maxsolomon]

13. Here in the US, you need a State-granted PROFESSIONAL LICENSE to practice.

You have to pass a Licensing exam. Otherwise, you're not an Architect.

[The Madcap]

10. More students will have to attend in their home states

To keep the costs down. I am so glad my kids are nearly done.

[Wiz Imp]

16. To be clear, this applies to GRADUATE degrees, NOT bachelor's degrees

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/11/21/what-considered-professional-degree-explained/87396245007/

Nursing is not a 'professional degree' amidst student loan changes
What is a professional degree?
The confusion and controversy stem from a 1965 federal law, which defines a "professional degree" as one that "signifies both completion of the academic requirements for beginning practice in a given profession and a level of professional skill beyond that normally required for a bachelor's degree."

The definition goes on to list examples of a professional degree, including:

Pharmacy (Pharm.D.)
Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.)
Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.)
Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.)
Law (L.L.B. or J.D.)
Medicine (M.D.)
Optometry (O.D.)
Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.)
Podiatry (D.P.M., D.P., or Pod.D.)
Theology (M.Div., or M.H.L.)
While the definition states that the list is not exhaustive and that professional licensure is also generally required, past Department of Education committee meetings this fall to discuss student loan regulations and other issues have used the initial description that includes only those ten degrees.
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Graduate students pursuing "professional degrees" on the defined list are able to borrow up to $50,000 per year and up to $200,000 overall. But for students in graduate programs that are not considered "professional degrees," loans are capped at $20,500 per year. Graduate programs are limited to $100,000 overall.

This means students in programs not listed on the list or defined as a "professional degree" could face a lower loan cap when pursuing those programs. The loan changes — and overall adjustments to higher education finances and funding — are slated to take effect on July 1, 2026.