Dear colleagues,

I hope as we prepare to launch into the new year, that you're finding time to catch up and to relax and enjoy the season with family and friends. 

It's a light newsletter this week, but a few things to put on your radar:

• Many of you have renewed your MHOA membership for 2026 - thank you! We'll be opening up registration mid-January for the DEP seminars. Make sure you get member pricing for these great trainings!
• Budgeting for training? The Your Year with MHOA flyer gives you an overview and approximate pricing.
• The MHOA Weekly Newsletter will be on hiatus until Friday, Jan. 9, 2026
• Most MHOA staff members have time off scheduled during the next couple of weeks. Please use our Contact Us form for urgent needs that cannot wait until Jan. 5.

Now, for some background and a heads up that you'll need your advocacy skills in January.

The one-sentence highlight is: We'll let you know when the federal Department of Education posts a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the federal register and opens a 30-day comment period so you can share details on the impact new federal borrowing limits and changes to degree definitions would have on new people entering the public health workforce. You'll need to individually post your comments for the most impact. MHOA will also respond, but this is a situation where more individual voices matter more than MHOA posting on behalf of its members.

For background, you may have heard that there are proposed changes to federal student loan programs. H.R. 1 - aka the One Big Beautiful Bill - passed earlier this year and it sets new annual caps on graduate and professional federal student loans. Graduate students will be limited to $20,500 annually ($100,000 aggregate) and professional students will be limited to $50,000 annually ($200,000 aggregate). 

There are proposed changes to degree definitions. Under the bill, “graduate student” is defined as “a student enrolled in a program of study that awards a graduate credential (other than a professional degree) upon completion of the program.” “Professional student” is defined under H.R. 1 as “a student enrolled in a program of study that awards a professional degree (as defined under section 668.2 of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations) upon completion of the program.” Section 668.2 of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations defines “professional degree” as “a degree 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. Professional licensure is also generally required. Examples of a professional degree include but are not limited to 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.), and Theology (M.Div., or M.H.L.).”  

Public health and nursing degrees are in the lower limit category, so people pursuing those degrees would be faced with seeking private loans to cover the difference, or deciding not to pursue that degree. We're already facing challenges with recruiting people to local public health roles, these changes are expected to make that more challenging. The MHOA Board of Directors discussed these changes at its last meeting, and directed staff to ensure our members are updated and encouraged to advocate against these changes. 

A huge thank you and credit to NACCHO for sharing these details with us so I could pass info on to you. The federal landscape is confusing, and we're lucky to have a NACCHO partnership to help us make sense of it all, and pass along ways to make a difference to you all. Just a reminder, MHOA pays for its local public health members to have a NACCHO membership. Not using yours yet? Follow the directions here to get started. 

Have a restful and enjoyable remainder of 2025, and see you in 2026!

Teresa Wood Kett, executive director